Perhaps, real estate brokers may want to take a look at auctions as a sideline service. I was reading how auctions are misunderstood and are beneficial in creating a competitive frenzy.

Now, I might not know what the heck I am talking about, but someone is making some money. My take is, if we are supposed to be offering solutions to our clients, why not open up the possibility of auctions? According to the National Association of Auctioneers-The auction is a power tool to open doors -you have something that your competitor doesn't have. Since we
are responsible for offering our sellers the best tools available...we should at least be telling them about all of the options. They deserve it. That means we could invite FSBO's, expired's, and
withdrawn's! Read more here: The Broker Auction Advantage or the Gavel is Powerful.

Queen Anne's County home sales are down almost fifty percent, okay exactly 46.67% for the month of March 2008 compared to last March 2007. Yikes.....or hmmm?


Although, I sent out an email with the Queen Anne's County home sales for the month of March 2008, what I forgot to state is that was for All sales, not just for residential sales. So, if the number looked pretty good, you now may be disappointed. Here's what the MRIS stats show:
Click on the image below to enlarge.


Since, foreclosures and auctions are on the rise, you may want to take a peek at the only real estate website listing real estate auctions in a multiple listing style format.
This service by the National Auctioneers Association allows you to search by categories for many types of real estate set to be auctioned soon. Eventually, it will include land auctions. For now, click on the See upcoming Auctions link and it takes you to a map. Click on Maryland.

It seems we have come to a crossroad of two kinds of home sellers--- the ones that are facing the housing market straight up and pricing their homes to sell and the others who are simply ignoring the facts and digging in their heals.

Now, we can talk about this subject til the cows come home, but I'd rather cut to the chase and make things happen. The problem is everyone in the media is an expert in real estate and whatever position you take, it is human nature to tune into people who say what you want to hear.

Although, if you are like me, we need to become better informed on how to tell people that their house is not worth alot more than what the market is calling for.

We need to take a lesson from Walmart, "Low prices are one of the surest ways to beat the competition". Called ``drama pricing" or ``energy pricing," it is a drastic measure for difficult times. Although, your clients will be disappointed, we must share the information of other competitive listings and sold inventory that are seen by consumers as a perception of value. That is human nature.

The experts tell us to lay out the facts on how tough it would be to sell at the suggested owner's listing price. However, we must adhere to the rules and ethics as Realtors and understand the bottom line is the owner's decision.

All, we can and must do is educate them. And I must admit, I need to brush up on my skills.
The point is if you start too high, buyers forget about your property -- it doesn't matter how beautiful it is. As a home seller, you may prefer to wait out the market, if you don't really need or want to sell. Now, some agents won't agree with me, but I just think the more inventory we have of homes, the harder it is for everybody. Especially, the sellers who need to sell.

Today, we must focus on what is not selling and persuade our sellers to look at the prices of active listings that are indeed selling.

You need to be an informed seller or buyer, it is imperative to know what is happening in the current Queen Anne's County market- www.qachousingmarket.com. There are many factors to determining the proper price when listing a home for sale. There are just as many factors to help you decide whether you are getting good value for your dollar when you purchase a home. (click on graphic to enlarge).

It appears that the bottom dropped out for 2008 according to the stats below for the last couple of years. The million dollar question is when is this market going to turn around?

Here is the breakdown, so far, for 2008 and for the month of Feb.:

Heads up......If you are a homeowner in Maryland you need to take notice and understand that you are now being required to submit an application to receive the state Homestead Property Tax Credit (capping at 10%). This is a credit on your property tax credit bill.

On Jan. 30th at 1 pm in Annapolis, SB 239 (sponsored by many Democrats and Republican senators including our own Senator EJ Pipken) will be heard to repeal the requirement (to file an application to the State Department of Assessments and Taxation to qualify) and take the burden off of the homeowners.

If you are like me, one may wonder why was the process changed? When I inquired, the reason I was given was that there have been many property owners who were not eligible to receive the credit. Here's a look at the new application, and I can assume how cumbersome this will be for homeowners or if you forget to file or become confused by the new requirement, or try to file electronically and can't find your access number and simply do not file for fear of being in violation.

In 2007, the Maryland General Assembly enacted legislation that required homeowners to fill out a one-time application for the Homestead Credit. The legislation takes effect with the 2008 assessments. If the property is designated as you principal residence, an application was included with your tax assessment notice. Even homeowners who have previously received the credit must fill out the application or apply online. This form is due by April 1. For more information call 410-767-2165.

Please attend the hearing on 1/30/08. Here is the address below that you can submit your support of the bill.
The Honorable Ulysses Currie, Chair
Senate Budget and Taxation Committee
3 West Miller Senate Office Building
Annapolis, MD 21401

I believe you and me, need to look this straight in the eye and deal with it. But first, lets talk about recession. Or are we heading into a recession? Definition of recession in a short version: two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. What that means to you and me, is that the US is in the "red" and that, is not good. In other words, we are not making any money. According to the experts, some say "yes" while other predict the signs:

• Growth in construction dropped to a 14-month low while home prices fell to a six-year low. And we haven't reached bottom yet.


• Experts predict zero gross domestic product growth for the first quarter ending in March. Our strong export numbers can't overcome weakening domestic end product demand.


• With all the rising housing inventories - it is evident customers aren't buying--an early danger signal of recession, according to experts. This is weakening the market nationwide. Some economic real estate experts say to sell your home in this market, the seller has to find the five lowest priced homes in your comparative market and list yours 10% below that number and you are sure to sell!!


• Unemployment is holding up so far, but we're only 100,000 away from a shaky grounds. Employment growth has eased to a nine-month low and unemployment is steadily increasing-expect big layoffs in banking and housing.


• Looking at the nation, experts say recession will develop in Florida and other states first. On top of all this we have the media pounding away with negative financial economic turmoil. This is all difficult to stomach. Plus, the psychology of it is making sentiment bad because housing prices have fallen, and without equity the consumers cannot borrow money to make consumer goods purchases.


• Unfortunately, the massive injections of credit and lower interest rates have not solved the subprime debacle and the freezing up of credit markets. The financial services index has dipped to a 14-year low. It's not clear easy money can save us from a recession. They say, keep an eye on January sales to see if consumer goods are leaving the stores.
  
  

Here in QAC, we were down almost 43% for the total dollar volume for the month of Dec. 2007 compared to Dec. 2006.

We are down 38% in total units sold for the month of Dec. 2007 compared to Dec. 2006. FYI, some 31 homes sold for the month of December in QAC compared to 50 homes in December 2006.

You can see other stats by clicking on the chart twice to enlarge. To see homes that sold for Dec. 2007, click here for details.
Read more information at my personal blog: www.qachousingmarket.com

QAC Sewer Increase Hearing Talking Points for the Sewer Rate Increase
Below are some ideas and talking points to address the County Commissioners prior to the Nov. 12th Monday evening public hearing at Kent Island High school in Stevensville at 7 pm, or if you decide to make public comment at the hearing.

The hearing has been set for the public to address the Queen Anne's County commissioners on why the users are facing a possible sewer rate increase.

1.Where's the $10 million dollars going to come from to pay for the new Kent Narrows, Stevensville, Grasonville wastewater treatment plant (KNSG)? No one knows for sure?


2. How did we arrive at this dilemma? Originally, back in the fall of 2002, the new KNSG sewer plant was going to cost approximately $28 million dollars. It was to be secured by a $10 million dollar grant from the state and approximately $10 million from K. Hovnanian and the balance to be bonded and paid for by new customers. (See History below)


3. What will happen if Four Seasons doesn't go through? If Four Seasons (K. Hovnanian) does not go through, the customers of the sanitary district will have to foot a $10 million dollar bill.


4. How will this affect the homeowners who are hooked up to public sewer in the Stevensville, Chester and Grasonville areas? Homeowners in Stevensville, Chester and Grasonville could be faced with an increase of approximately 28% on their quarterly county user fee bills for years to come. The scenario could play out like this: To pay for the wastewater sewer plant, the commissioners will have to secure a bond and the citizens will have to bear the debt service on the bond. Now, if there isn't enough money generated on Kent Island, Grasonville, and Chester, the worst case scenario would mean the money would come from the general fund and every citizen in QAC will be paying for this service. THIS IS NOT FAIR! Why should you have to pay for a service that you are not using!


5. Why are the commissioners asking homeowners (users) to pay for the new sewer plant construction costs? Typically, an enterprise styled account is paid for by the users (customers) of the sanitary district. But, NEVER in the history of this County have user fees gone to pay for capital costs in regards to the sanitary district.


6.Why did we need a new wastewater treatment plant? The Kent Narrow, Stevensville, Grasonville (KNSG) wastewater treatment plant was desperately needed since the nitrogen had never been treated since the former plant was built in 1981. The new plant will reduce the nitrogen that has been flowing into the Chesapeake Bay, plus ensure viable economic development for future sewer allocations.


7.The new wastewater treatment plant was opened several months ago, it was upgraded from 2 million gallons per day to 3 million gallons per day, because we needed to reduce the nitrogen and we were running out of sewer allocations to offer to residential homes and commercial projects. Keep in mind, the County would run out of sewer allocations if we did not upgrade.


History
How did we get here? Today, the KNSG sewer plant costs the county $32 million.-- FOUR MILLION DOLLARS more than the original bid after eliminating $6 million dollars worth of efficiency upgrades.
Why? The last set of commissioners overlooked and disregarded the original bid/plan in 2002 and appealed the discharge permit to halt the progress. In the meantime, pollution continued to flow into the Bay for 2 years while the last set of commissioners sought out other ways to build the wastewater treatment plant. Including two additional engineering studies costing the taxpayers.


There are two costs associated with the wastewater treatment plant: 1. The Capital improvements--- the construction costs to build the plant. 2. The operational-labor costs of hiring men and women to maintain the plant. Quarterly fees have only been used to pay for operational costs NOT capital costs.

What are the solutions?

Is there such a thing as ActiveRain Annonymous? Sign me up Okay, I've made my important phone calls early this morning, checked the MLS, scanned the listings, updated my upcoming ads, called a couple of my sellers and potential buyers and every thirty minutes or so I am back on ActiveRain!!!

Am I hooked to this site OMG? Lord help me, even my husband is yelling from the family room, when are you coming back to earth? I just tell him, "I am actively in the rain right now" and he knows what I mean-LOL. Of course, he is patient and I just tell him you should try it there is so much to learn, except I can't STOP!

What is wrong with me....it is the early part of the afternoon, and I am still in my robe and bloggin away and absolutely loving it! Don't get me wrong, I am busy, and have things cooking in the pipeline, but the enormous amount of information here is fabulous! I tell myself, after I read this post I will stop, then I click a link, then another and before I know it, an hour has passed by and I am still sitting here with my coffee.

I KNOW I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS DILEMMA-PEOPLE SPEAK TO ME PLEASE. I usually work from home, so it can get pretty tough trying to sneak away from ActiveRain bloggers. You guys are the best..Everywhere i look on the site is another reason for me to stay just 10 more minutes.

Let's see what can I do to tear myself away...I will break a pencil and that will make me get up to use the sharpener. Oh no, only to walk over and see the inspector's report and I have questions I am puzzled with so I am back on ActiveRain searching for clues, answers, comments anything that resembles my inquiry. This is a real estate agent's heaven. I find my answers, I may search for more just to have a back up, and then maybe I will read what other people are saying about the posted advice and that leads to another question, something more I could offer to my buyers. My buyers will think I am so smart and versed in this area, boy will my pride swell.....all because I have done my homework blogging and reading posts.

So, here i sit, reading and thumbing through the new posts and trying to see if there something I just have to read or perhaps something new that I need to know about or better yet, something that will make my own blog bigger and better and even better yet make me some big sales and commission? I just keep digging, and searching and then if I really get interested in a post, I will click on the profile, read the profile and then take a peek at the agent's photo. Then, I say to myself, I bet this person would be fun to have dinner with or get to know. Oh, I forgot, ActiveRain is giving me the chance to get to know them..how cool is that?

It's a good thing the phone is still ringing and I have emails to answer and oh yes something as important as eating does and demands an interuption. OR ELSE....you got it!

What's a blogger to do any clues????? I have bloggeritis...and I can't stop