Tupelo, MS

Choosing a REALTOR in these Changing Times

Sorry for the length of this blog, but it was necessary to accomodate the case-and-point. The importance of choosing the right professional has never been more important in today's real estate climate.

Whether you are buying or selling, a qualified real estate professional will help you successfully navigate the entire process of a real estate adventure-transaction, regardless of the complexity. Searching for the right real estate professional can be a daunting task and when trying to decide what to look for in a good agent, the following topics and ideas should be considered.

1. Training/Education. We all know there simply is no substitute for age and wisdom. They go hand in hand. When considering "hiring" a professional to assist or handle a real estate transaction, experience, education, and training background should all be considered. Continued professional training and education is a strong indicator to an agents dedication and commitment to their profession. An agent who takes the initiative to continually improve their knowledge base, and those who train into specialties and receive special designations, are agents that should make the cut. Aside from the State of Mississippi requirement of only 8 hours of continuing education every two years, study initiative and the determination to be a good professional separates the knowledgable haves from the have-nots. Knowledge is key to everything in real estate, and together with experience and wisdom, is the formula for success. It is this success factor that is in the customer's or client's best interest.

2. Experience. Ever purchase a car without a test drive? Probably not. Choosing a real estate professional without a sufficient level of expertise is probably not wise either. While length of professional service alone is no guarantee of professional excellence, it is believed that, in general, the more experience a professional has, the more experiential knowledge they acquire. To consumers in the selection process, this becomes the most important element of qualification. left unchecked, an inexperienced agent can cost you, and most often, without your knowledge. When choosing an agent with a less than desirable level of experience, request references or ensure that the agent is under good tutelage or mentorship. * Initiation * Negotiation * Mediation * Calculation * Finalization These are not skills that are perfected by classroom study. They are indeed a skill set learned and improved over time and with actual experience.

3. Availability. Now here is a tough one. Some of the best agents you can think of are, well, usually not available when you need them. Good Buyer's agents are busy, usually with buyers. Others agents may be listing agents and that is what they practice. They list properties. An abundance of listings is, by design, what makes them successful. With this abundance, an agent relies on the odds of selling and most often equates to their top production status (especially through the consumers eyes). It is a percentages game, usually at the cost of customer service. Choose a busy listing agent and the liklihood of recieiving good customer service is greatly diminished. They will market your home the most convenient and efficient way they know as they will continue to list more homes. You should always choose a professional that will provide you full-time availability and whether you choose a Seller's or Buyer's agent, they should provide you with a commitment of service.

4. Service Ability. Related to, and in contast to Availability, good customer or client service is an important attribute of a good agent. They are good time managers and stay in contact with you, providing you with accurate and timely information about the housing market, enabling you to make smarter marketing and buying decisions, as necessary. Good agents are tuned in to their market and their clients. They will stay the course with you and be available when you need them. Question: Will the agent you use to market your home take you from beginning to end? Will they handle all the marketing aspects and advertising for your home? Or will they drop off your file with a company "staffer", letting them handle all the details of marketing, the sale, and all of the details of your transaction? Always ask an agent about their "process". There is as much individually here as there are agents. Question: Will your Buyers Agent spend the time with you to help you determine the right home. Will they provide you with a "complete" amount of information or provide you with the right resources? Will they willingly show you all the homes that meet your criteria, or just those in their inventory?

5. Technology Resources. Today, here is where the 'NOW' rubber meets the road. The agent you choose may have knowledge of the area and provide you with friendly customer service. But have they progressed in their profession, technologically speaking? Are they techno-resourseful? Can they deliver all of the above expectations with-and by-todays standards? Technology is well upon the real estate industry and has led to the creation of a new genre of Top Producers while some agents continue to conduct their business-as-usual. Agents that embrace and implement new technologies are spending more time and money leaning and implementing technologies to market their listings. It has become personal again. Most large companies make the technology and tools available to their agents, but agents must be willing to spend the money and extra time to effectively leverage these tools. Many companies simply do not train agents to be techno-savvy. This can be most evident by whether an agent has their own website or whether they employ additional tools or internet syndication methods in their property marketing plans. A good agent will offer value added services in addition to what their company provides.

Here is where good listing agents can make the overall grade:

* Implemented Technology

* On-line Social Networking

* Internet Marketing

* Internet Syndication

* Blogging

* Visual and Virtual Tours

* Multiplex Communications

* Leads Generation Systems

In summary, the agent selected to represent one's real estate transaction should be examined closely. Ensure that they meet or exceed your expectations. Ask questions about their qualifications using the above guidelines and ensure that you are comfortable with their qualifications. A good agent should not hesitate to provide you with a resume and the consumer should never hesitate to ask for one. Also, seek out references. Check with past clients with whom they previously worked. Your real estate agent is like the other professionals you choose in life...and it's usually not your cousin or your sister-in-law. There are many resources available to guide you in locating the right agent equal to your task. There are new standards in our business. Overall, it is an important decision and once you make your selection, you should expect results equal to that choice.

Happy Hiring!

Yesterday, Ben Bernanke, Fed Chaiman, announced while taking questions after a speech that the recession was over. Although unemployment levels are alarmingly high, his stance was that on most technical levels, the recession has ended, but that it would be a long painful recovery, well into next year.

Recently, Standard & Poor's reported that its S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price index of real-estate values increased during the second quarter over the first quarter of 2009, the first quarter-on-quarter increase in three years. Its index of 20 major cities also rose for the three months ended June 30 over the three months ended May 31, with only hard-hit Detroit and Las Vegas experiencing declines. The week before that, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales volume of existing homes was up 7.2% in July from June.

In short, does this data suggest that real-estate prices hit a bottom some time during the second quarter, and have now begun to rise? There's no way to be certain that this marks the end of the long, painful correction that followed the real-estate bubble, but clearly prices are no longer in free-fall. That means if you've been sitting on the fence, it's time to act.

As a real estate agent, broker, homeowner and investor, I can understand why buyers have been cautious. Few want to buy in down markets, just as stock buyers avoid bear markets. And for most people, of course, buying a house is a much bigger decision than buying a stock. But with real-estate prices nationally now down about 30% from their 2006 peak and showing signs of turning up, the prices aren't likely to go much lower. Every real-estate market is local, and so there may be a few exceptions. Overall, though, I can't imagine a better time to buy than now

The real attraction compared to bargain prices is the cost of obtaining a mortgage. Rates since Labor Day have dropped to some of the lowest levels of the last two years. 15 year rates were the most attractive however, there are some reports that lenders are moving loan closing costs upward.

In addition to bargain prices and great rates, buyers also should find plenty of homes to choose from. The national inventory of unsold homes was 4.09 million units in July, up 7.3% from June, according to the National Association of Realtors. Even the stricter appraisal process is working to the advantage of buyers. Appraisals are coming in far lower than most sellers have been expecting, forcing them to face the new reality of sharply lower prices. And with stricter standards, lenders aren't going to let buyers borrow more than they can afford, which protects buyers and helps to keep prices down.

Unless you're really prepared to accept the demands (and headaches) of being a landlord, direct ownership of real estate as an investment is not recommended. The days of buyers lining up to flip Miami Beach and Las Vegas condos are mercifully gone.

There are much easier ways to make money in real estate, such as real-estate investment trusts or buying shares in home builders and other housing-related businesses (such as Home Depot). Historically, the mean rate of return on real estate has been around 3%, according to research from Yale economist Robert Shiller, who co-developed the Case-Shiller index. Shares in REITs and other stocks have often done much better.

But there's a good reason homeownership has been such a central part of the American dream. It delivers security, pride of ownership, a sense of community and decent investment returns as a bonus. On the other side of the foreclosure crisis is another story. For every hardship story, and no doubt there are many, others are realizing their dreams of home ownership and getting what may well turn out to be the deals of their lives.

Partial content courtesy of Jeremy Less, Community Mortgage, Memphis, TN

I posted information in January about market timing and today I was reminded how tough it is, or isn't to do so. Watching the news over and over has been verifiably disheartening and recently, the few positive things thrown in the press mix are starting to have a positive effect on me.

I believe my mind has choosen to ignore the "bad" and pay strict attention to the "good". When the good news hits the airwaves, it is resounding to me. Am I re-programmed? I believe that one can be so tired of hearing nothing but negative, that subconciously, it's all tuned-out and then tuned-back automatically when we hear positive things. Can somebody please launch a "good-news" channel? Just think of the people that would tune in. Now, there is a whole new untapped market just waiting to be had!

Last January I wrote:

"The other day, I asked a friend of mine who plays the stock market, whether he has ever successfully timed the bottom of a market swing. His reply - "No." If market timing were that simple, there would be many more rich people in this world. Everything we were ever taught, while in school and during the course of our entire lives, was to always Buy Low and Sell High! If most buyers would concentrate more on just buying low with historically low interest rates, then market timing isn't really that important. Waiting for prices to drop another 5-10% means nothing when interest rates climb three quarters to a point above where they currently are.

Consumers will lead us out of this recession and when it's all in the rear-view mirror, there will be a big collective sigh of relief and two catagories of post recession comments: 1) "I'm sure glad we bought when we did!" and 2) "I sure wish I would have bought when the market was at the bottom."

You see, nobody knows what the bottom looks like when you are there. It's only when your on the way up that you recognize it. By then, you missed it!"

There are some good things happening and maybe timing this market bottom is not as hard as it seemed it would be. I keep hearing that we are here and we very well could be. Then again, it may take a little while while longer but one thing's for sure, when the ride up comes, it will be a good ride to catch. As we all tune-in to the good stuff, good things will happen!

And if you are in the market to buy...then get in already and buy something!

All The Bad News of recent months and the toughness of this market has caused me to reflect on myself, my business and the past. When things seem bad, one rarly or can accurately sense that it can get worse, much worse.

To put things in perspective, when things are worse than bad, is it real or perceived? As "Seemingly" would have it, all the media "hype" does play on the public and entreprenureal psyche and contributes more to the degredation of business, mind and spirit, than bad business itself.

My reflection takes me back a couple of years ago (May '07) when business was starting to decline and the housing bubble started to leak. Just when our local market began to realized that business was in decline, and that there were definately strong external factors causing this downward trend, my business was stopped dead in the tracks of FATE ? (or, more accurately, the tracks of an automobile).

I was in my office at 4:59 pm on the Friday leading into the Memorial Day weekend. The last thing I remember was that my mouse pointer was over the 'shutdown' button on my laptop and my almost 'completed' thought was "I am going to take the entire 3 days off, relax, drink a fews beers, bratwurst on the grill, movie, etc., come back on Tuesday morning refreshed, replenished, and Hit It Hard!!!

and then .........

BANG!!!!

I felt the building shake before I actually heard the noise. I looked up from my computer and seen the ceiling tiles crash to the floor just outside my office door. A plume of white sheetrock dust seemed to roll up from the floor like that of a large bomb blast. Initially thinking that something came down on top of the roof of the building, I managed to stand and move to my office door where the first thing I recognized was a shiney chrome bumper. The front end of a car! In My Office! Yikes!!!

Right through the glass front of the building, through the conference room, and into the copy and work center of the back of the office. Everything that was between the front glass wall and the copy machine was ...er...well...rearranged...crushed...fodder.

So much for looking forward to a relaxing three-day weekend with friends and family. So much for all those prevailing last cognizant thoughts.

It took hours into the evening to secure the building, and weeks to get the mess cleaned and the office rebuilt.

As luck would have it, nobody was injured in the accident (funny how luck works - inches to the right, car would have hit brick and little penetration. A foot to the left, car would have penetrated my office and I would have been pinned behind my desk.)

Three Great Things (and one inevitable) came of all this. First, I learned how to survive in the face of adversity. When it seems like all the chips are down, it can get worse. It doesn't make any sense to dwell or worry about what could or might happen. I've learned to stay focused on the NOW and into the future! Deal with the bad when the bad happens. It wasn't easy to see my office in shambles and know that I had to keep going, but sometimes it's these type of events that make us all dig deep down for that little extra strength. We all have it in us, some of just fail to realize how to discover or access it.

All aside, I guess the moral of this story is that in the face of adversity, we can all discover ways to keep it all going. Finding ways to stay motivated should be a high priority to anyone associated with the real estate industry and/or everyone who might be affected by this country's current economic condition.

The Second thing was that when it was all over, I had a somewhat newly remodeled office. Yea, I lost some favorite pieces of furniture and other stuff was damaged, but the new office inspired me daily and provided me a visual reminder of my resiliance and determination to succeed. My new toughness was born this day and me made me ready for anything, even a down market (it's just unfortunate that for some of us, there is a price for discovery).

Never just give up withoug a fight!

I've since purchased another franchise and business is okay (a new franchise going into a down market was a questionable and gutsy decision in itself). Working harder and longer, and with more technology, keeps me in this new balance. The founder and CEO of EXiT Realty, Steve Morris, sums it all up this way:

"You never really lose until you quit trying."

The Third thing, and the one that bugs me the most is that deep down inside, something tells me that the concept of drive-thru real estate will someday work and, I'll be the last to realize it!

Oh yeah, the inevitable; Uninsured Driver!

Recent changes concerning the Tax Credit for first time homebuyers has been modified in the new stimulus pacakge signed by President Obama this week. The major change is that this money DOES NOT have to be paid back. I urge anyone who is in the market to buy to seriously look at the benefits of this credit.

If you are currently in the market for a home, you should contact your REALTOR, mortgage professonal, or tax preparer, to help you determine whether this Tax Credit is applicable to you and your family. If you do not have a REALTOR, you can feel free to contact me at any of my listed numbers.

Randy Landis, EXiT Realty Premier (662) 842-7653

Information downloaded as provided by the National Association of Realtors.