Tupelo, MS

I know that this is not the right venue in which to make my favorite team known, but I don't care! It's been 100 years, and while it may come as no supprise to many, it comes as a fever to many others! As a life long Cubbie Fan, I am almost at that point where I don't know what I will be rooting more for, a RE sale or a world series victory come October. Obviously, I would like to make that next sale, it's just that when you have been spoiled by years of dissapointment, how is one suppose to act when the curse could actually end this year? What will us Cub fans have to look forward to if they do win the series? Maybe another 100 years! Thank goodness none of us will ever have to go through it again. Same goes for real estate. Some of us will probably never go through it again, although others will. Thank goodness re droughts don't last that long or we would all be working for Walmart.

100 Years since the CUBS have won a World Series! It's gonna happen...I believe!

Wow. If you are in a buying position right now there are tons of deals to be had. Never before has there been so many foreclosures on the market here in the Notheast Mississippi area. While I still believe our part of the country isn't as hard hit as other parts of the country we are feeling the mortgage squeeze. Right now Investors in real estate should be jumping all over the many homes they have to chose from.

Remeber the past and make strides in the future. Some of the wealthiest people in our world today always buy when the markets are tanking. Those people who were buying stock during the great depresson were quickly made into very rich people when the markets picked back up. Just like the great depression this real estate market will pick up and hum again.

The problem were are experiencing right now has its root in the exact same situation that has caused many recessions over the years. In 2007 we had a negative savings rate. People are getting into debt and are not able to climb out of the whole they have dug themselves into. Now I am not blaming bankers or lenders for this problem. Although they had a hand in it. We all know that banks were throwing money at anyone with a pulse just 2 years ago but no one held a gun to the consumers head and made them buy more home than they could afford. I am also not asking the governement to get involved in helping people who bought too much and now cant afford to make there payments. Hard lessons learned are not quickly forgottten

So my advice is Investors jump in full force and start buying up those foreclosures.

I recently picked up a copy of a magazine titled "Greater Tupelo" which is labled as a lifestyle magazine for Northeast Mississippi. A really nice, quality printed publication printed on a bi-monthly basis. The May/June edition (2008) is the issue I am commenting on. An article titled "Luxury Homes Stay HOT In soft Real Estate Market" has some of us in our profession steaming because of the ongoing mis-information that some Realtors and agencies continue to tout to the public. Since the downturn of the national real estate market, our market also has felt the pinch and I will be the first to admit that our market here has softened, but NOT to the extreme that somes areas have been hit. I will go on record and state that our market is "soft but stable." Yes, we have been hurt by the shortage of mortgage products available as compared to the past. The numbers of buyers we have enjoyed in the past just aren't there.

The aforementioned article that will undoubtedly create confusion among the consumer and anger amongst the hard working Realtors starts out by saying that upper end homes in our market were showing and selling. One Realtor was quoted as saying interest rates wer dropping. On the contrary, rates have steadily climbed over the spring, albeit not by much, but they are on the upswing. Here are the facts: Our MLS as of 6/30/08 lists 52 homes active on market with price tags over $500,000. During the last year, over 60 homes in this range have gone expired, withdrawn, cancelled, etc. There have only been 4 (four) sales of homes in this price range since 1/1/2008 and these sales took place over a 25 mile radius of Tupelo. Now, call me ignorant, but my math is not that bad. When you take the number of homes in this price range that have gone off market and then look at average days on market of the current listings, anyone would be a fool to believe that one could call this "Hot" and get away with it.

The bad information that is being disseminated is designed to be a feel-good to the consumer and causes problems for most Realtors. The ones that are using this tactic are doing so for personal gain at the expense of their peers and, in the long run, their company. Discussions with other Realtors haved concluded that we have been placed in a positon of damage control with our clients, almost on an ongoing basis. Clients read all this "good press" and want to know why their listings are not showing or selling. Thank goodness I inform my seller clients upfront that they must think more long-term (normal) vs short-term (lucky). Other agents are involved in an ongoing customer service exercise that involves this ongoing damage control effort and it is getting old.

This especially is hard to swallow at a time when one could be easily fooled into believing that they could list their home and get it sold in short order. "Listing Trickery" is what I call it! In all my years, I have learned to be informed. I level with my clients and tell it like it is, and I have always informed my clients of the exactness of it all. By the way, that would be considered in their best interest, wouldn't it?

Tricking the public into a false sense of security may get you listings, but the statistics don't lie...you won't get the sales!

Ever thought of owning your own golf course? How about 36 holes? It can be yours and for only $374,000. It's the Tupelo Put 'N Fun Center located just outside the NE city limits. The owners of this long time establishment want to retire and sell the entire 4 acres which includes a 5 bedroom home, 20' x 60' shop and the 36 hole miniature golf course, Water Wars battle station, building that houses a concession stand, two party rooms, arcade room, and golf rental center. There is also a children's playground and a efficiency apartment which is used for rental income. There is room for expansion of amusement services such as a racetrack or paint ball course. Contact Randy Landis at Exit Reatly Premier in Tupelo at (662) 842-7653 for information or visit www.exitpreview.com to view photos of MLS #07-3353.

This just came to mind while returning to my office this afternoon. As most would know in these parts (the birthplace of Elvis), the landmark Tupelo Hardware Co. is where Elvis purportedly purchased his first guitar. The antique glass and wood display counter that held this guitar still resides at Tupelo Hardware Co., and is still in use with wares for sale on top and in the display case. Of course, a space inside is reserved for Elvis memorabilia. The glass top of the counter that was once clear glass, is now opaque after who knows how many world travelers have rubbed the top of the display as if they were rubbing a genie's magic lamp or for good luck. Who knows? The Tupelo Hardware Co. is an Elvis tour stopping point, and is graced outside with a stone and bronze plaque in memory of the King. I drive by the hardware store almost daily and usually make no mind of the landmark.

What inspired me to think about posting this was an item in the Tupelo Hardware Co. window that caught my attention today. This item has probably been there for a long time, I don't know, but I have never noticed it. In the window of the Tupelo Hardware Co., along with a cardboard knockout of Elvis, a accoustic guitar, a small tricycle, a red Radio-Flyer wagon, a bronze rooster wind vane, and other miscellaneous "stuff" is, get this........ a snow sled! A two-runner snow sled, of the same variety that everyone in the snow belt has either owned at one time or has had a friend that had one. Now, what is so strange about this is that we are not the snow belt!

Last Saturday morning, Tupelo woke up to nearly 3 inches of snow. The first measurable amount in over 5 years. Now, did that shop owner put that sled there just because of the recent snow, or has it always been there? Why? Why would the Tupelo Hardware Co. carry a product that could rarely be used, and even more unlikely, sold? I think it icould be a dramatic way of advertising to the consumer "Come On In, We have Everything You Need!"

Now, I think to myself...as an individual, do I need to be more cognizant of things around me everyday or, as a Realtor, am I missing something important in my real estate advertising message? Could I be using something as subtle as this to gain more customers? Do you have a sled in your advertising message?

Of course, you can now bet that I will look for that sled every time I drive by.