By Steve Harney

RISMEDIA, May 26, 2010—The various government stimulus packages helped real estate agents across the country create a sales momentum this spring. Now that the Federal home buying tax credits have ended, it’s even more important that we all work together to keep home sales on the rise throughout the summer and into the fall. As such, what you do during the next 90 days will have a major impact on the success of your real estate career throughout 2010 and into 2011.

To help you maximize your opportunities this summer, here is the 5-step action plan that you need to implement immediately. Doing so will help boost your career and your bottom line.

1. Sharpen your axe
To thrive in today’s market, you need to identify opportunities and act upon them immediately. In order to guarantee this, you have to be mentally sharp. Therefore, like a lumberjack, you need to occasionally take the time to stop chopping and sharpen your axe, which in this industry is your mind.

So go ahead…take a planned vacation this summer. Enjoy your friends and family. Dive into something you have always longed to do. This much needed downtime will give you a fresh focus and will guarantee that you will be able to work at maximum efficiency throughout the rest of the year.

Realize, though, that the advice isn’t to take the summer off. Don’t spend weeks daydreaming about the vacation before you go. Don’t spend weeks reminiscing about the vacation once you return. Work hard until the first day of this well earned time off. Before you leave, put together a plan that you will be able to enact immediately upon your return. Then, escape and forget about real estate. Truly enjoy yourself for the time you are away. But, get right back to work the day you return to the office.

2. Realize there is a difference between cost and price
People are ready to buy again. Consider these recent findings:

-A recent Gallup poll reported that “Lower but stabilizing home prices combined with continued low mortgage interest rates have persuaded 72% of Americans that now is a ‘good time’ to buy a house.”

-The Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America reported that 19% of the wealthiest people in America “say they are ‘in the market’ to acquire real estate.”

-A Move, Inc. survey found “17.2 percent of potential home buyers today say they plan to purchase a home in the near future as an investment compared to just 5.6 percent in March 2009.”

-Reuters reported on April 28, 2010, just two days before the tax credits expired, that “Home buyer tax credits have been a boon to the U.S. housing market, but their expiration is unlikely to deter home purchasing activity as consumers grow more confident.”

What is preventing all these would-be home buyers from taking action and making an offer? Fear!

Fear always comes from a lack of understanding. But fear is only the symptom. The lack of understanding is the disease. Many real estate agents have been trying to make people feel better by underplaying the severity of the market (treating the symptom) instead of educating them to the reality of the market (treating the disease).

You need to help buyers realize that waiting for a lower price might work against them in an environment of volatile mortgage rates. Therefore, the buyer should be less concerned with the price of the home they are considering and more concerned with getting the best cost (home price plus expense of financing).

Home prices have fallen to pre-bubble prices. Nationwide, prices are back to 2003 levels. However, the cost today is much less expensive than it was then. How? The annual average commitment rate on a 30-year mortgage in 2003 was 6.26% compared to the much lower rates today. Even though the prices are the same as in 2003, the cost today would be significantly less because of this rate difference.

Once you simply and effectively communicate the reality of the market, you can easily point out the opportunities that exist and help your buyers accomplish their goals. So search out the buyers mentioned above and help them understand that the move they are considering is not only possible, but also in the future it will be profitable.

3. List the property at a compelling price
The sale of a home can be a very emotional time for a seller, as they often have fond memories of people and events that graced their home over the years. However, when you are helping a seller set the price, you need to make sure emotion plays no part in it. The value of any item in any industry, whether it’s a home, a car, clothing, or anything else, is determined by only two variables: the demand for the item and the supply of that item.

At best, demand will remain stable throughout the year. If anything, potentially higher mortgage interest rates could soften demand.

The supply side of the equation is much clearer. A recent Zillow.com survey shows “8% of homeowners, or about 10 million Americans, are ‘very likely’ to sell if and as local conditions improve.” Obviously, not all 10 million will come to market. But even if only one quarter does, that would be 2.5 million additional homes for sale.

Additionally, recent foreclosure statistics show that between 5-7 million homes are eligible for foreclosure. Prices will be impacted severely when this discounted inventory begins to come to market as the year unwinds. Therefore, help your sellers price their houses properly now to avoid further reductions that will occur later in the year.

Now the next logical question is: What should you do to prepare for this wave of foreclosures? Here’s the answer…

4. Become comfortable with distressed properties
More and more families are finding it very difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. They are trapped in a vicious cycle that is creating a tidal wave of distressed properties coming to the market.

It is your duty to help these people. Commit to becoming better informed as to the programs available to these families in order to assist them as a true real estate professional should. Get certified by taking the short sale/distressed property classes offered by your local and state associations. Then, allocate a portion of your weekly work schedule to assisting this rapidly growing segment.

The more neighbors you help avoid the nightmare of foreclosure (through either a modification or a short sale), the better off they and your neighborhoods will be. Vacant foreclosures are what drive down values in a community. Modifications and short sales avoid this situation.

Help your neighbors in order to save your neighborhoods. Yes, this is a rather simple concept, but it won’t be easy unless you…

5. Develop the heart of a teacher
Dave Ramsey, the writer, radio personality, and financial guru, said: “When getting help with money, whether it is insurance, real estate or investments, you should always look for someone with the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman. If you find someone with the heart of a salesman, run away.”

Stop trying to sell people and instead educate them to the best options for their situation and their families. Take the time to truly understand what is happening in the current market as well as why it is happening. Then and only then will you be able to simply and effectively explain it to your customers and clients. Until they truly understand their options, they will be afraid to move forward.

Plan Now; Get rewarded later
Real estate is still one of the best professions in the world. The key to being successful is having a solid plan and then following it to the letter. So make sure you set your summer plan now! With your plan in place, anything is possible.

Steve Harney is a residential real estate expert who specializes in sales and leadership training. He has over 25 years experience as an agent, manager and company owner. You can receive monthly success strategies from Steve in your inbox by signing up at http://www.KCMquickreport.com.

http://rismedia.com/2010-05-25/make-this-summer-your-best-sales-season-ever-5-step-action-plan-for-the-next-90-days/

By Tom Bayles, Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Stan Humpfries, Zillow.com Chief Economist

Analysts say it will take more than 10 years to recapture peak home prices

By John Spence, MarketWatch

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Moody’s Investors Service threw cold water on optimistic projections of a V-shaped recovery in the battered U.S. housing market, predicting it could take more than 10 years to get back to boom-level prices.

“For many reasons, the rebound will be disproportionately small compared to the decline,” Moody’s said this week in its latest outlook on the residential market. “It will take more than a decade to completely recover from the 40% peak-to-trough decline in national home prices.”

The housing market is in the third year of the current downturn, one of the worst corrections in U.S. history as a result of the economic recession and the mortgage industry nearly grinding to a halt during the credit crunch.

“The bursting of the housing bubble precipitated a crisis in financial markets the likes of which have not been seen since the Great Depression and plummeted the nation into recession,” Moody’s said.

To view the entire article, click here.

Washington, September 01, 2009

Contract activity for pending home sales has risen for six straight months, a pattern not seen in the history of the index since it began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,¹ a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in July, increased 3.2 percent to 97.6 from a reading of 94.6 in June, and is 12.0 percent higher than July 2008 when it was 87.1.  The index is at the highest level since June 2007 when it was 100.7.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the housing market momentum has clearly turned for the better.  “The recovery is broad-based across many parts of the country.  Housing affordability has been at record highs this year with the added stimulus of a first-time buyer tax credit,” he said. – National Association of Realtors

To read the entire article, please click here.

Information about NAR is available at http://www.realtor.com.

A Toe in the Water

Real estate is starting to look cheap enough to buy. Or at least think about buying.

By DAVE KANSAS

Recently over dinner, a friend of mine startled me by saying he and his wife were looking to buy a lake cabin. I figured that in this time of economic uncertainty, people would still be stuffing their mattresses with hard, cold cash. But buying real estate? That seemed particularly surprising.

The more I’ve talked to people, though, the more I get a sense that things have started to change. While the economy remains in rough shape and the jobless rate continues to rise, the frantic desire to save and build cash reserves has ebbed. Those fortunate people who have weathered the storm are emerging from their fetal crouch and starting to think more about taking some investment risks.

What I find especially interesting is where most of my risk-taking friends are headed. It isn’t the stock market; in fact, the only folks I know who have waded back into the stock market are the gunslinger types who never really left it.

Instead, they seem to be heading for real estate. At first I found this puzzling, given the brutal battering real estate has taken. But that’s the point: An increasing number of my friends see this as the perfect opportunity to find something at a bargain-basement price.

And so, among my friends: A New York executive and his wife are looking for a summer place in New England; a small-business owner in Minnesota is thinking about acquiring some rental property; a New Jersey technology consultant is considering buying a small apartment in New York, perhaps with some other friends.

The Case for Real Estate

The people doing this are employed, feel confident that they’re not going to lose their jobs, and believe that while housing prices may fall a bit more the bottom is not too far away. Moreover, financing remains relatively cheap and, according to one lawyer I know in house-hunting mode, banks aren’t as tight with mortgage lending as headlines indicate.

As I wrote a couple of months ago, it’s always dangerous to hypothesize a global trend based on the all-too-limited view from your own backyard. But it’s also sometimes an insightful way to get a jump on what’s coming. And for me, what’s most intriguing is that, for now, most of this risk talk is prospective. There’s no sense of rushing, no desire to “stretch” too far in making a purchase. It’s like these people are permitting themselves to dream a little bit and get closer to pulling the trigger. But they want to be doubly sure before making a move.

What’s more, all of these people have a similar, cautious, mind-set. They don’t believe real estate will rebound or make a great investment. But they also don’t think real estate will lose a lot of value. Instead, they are focused on real estate as something they can use: a solid place to live or play that should also be, at worst, an OK investment.

Not all investments are the same. You can’t live in a stock certificate or gaze wistfully at a bond (at least most of us can’t). In what is still a time of tumult, there’s something deep inside us that finds the solidity of a home soothing. I think that explains why people moving out on the risk scale are focused more on real estate than on stocks or bonds. – Wall Street Journal, By DAVE KANSAS

To view the entire article, please click here.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Home sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market rose 30 percent during July as buyers scurried to lock in a tax credit of 10 percent of the purchase price, or up to $8,000.

Prices in the market were down 22 percent from a year ago at $179,500, but continued to show stability, rising 10 percent from $162,700 in June, according to data released Friday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

In Charlotte County-North Port, sales rose 24 percent in July, but the median sales price of $105,000 was down 26 percent from a year ago and 28 percent from June.

Statewide, home sales rose 37 percent, with the median dropping 24 percent to $147,600. That price was roughly flat with $148,000 last month.

Nationally, sales in July posted the largest monthly increase in at least 10 years, perhaps a sign that the U.S. housing market is rebounding quicker than expected. – HeraldTibune.com (article by Tom Bayles & Aaron Kessler)

To read the entire article, please click here.

Related Links (Provided by, Florida Association of Realtors and the University of Florida Real Estate Research Center):

• Homes prices and sales | Graphics
• Condo prices and sales | Graphics

Washington, August 12, 2009

Existing-home sales in the second quarter showed healthy gains from the first quarter in the vast majority of states, and price declines have increased affordability in most metro areas, according to the latest survey by the National Association of Realtors®.

Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, rose 3.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of 4.76 million units in the second quarter from 4.58 million units in the first quarter, but remain 2.9 percent below the 4.90 million-unit pace in the second quarter of 2008.

Thirty-nine states experienced sales increases from the first quarter, and nine states were higher than a year ago; the District of Columbia showed both quarterly and annual rises.  – National Association of Realtors

To read the entire article, please click here.

Information about NAR is available at http://www.realtor.com. 

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