How to Sell and Buy in the Current South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market
(LAKE TAHOE REAL ESTATE BLOG) We got to meet about 50 new people at our real estate Seminar last Saturday at Lake Tahoe Community College. That was really special for us. Anytime we get to meet and talk to people about what is, and is not, going on in their real estate market is a real pleasure. Market knowledge and being helpful is what our practice is all about.
This image is before it all started. Each of our seminars is in three sections. The first one, about 45 minutes long, starts off with a discussion about real estate news. It explores how real estate news for the most part is reported by non real estate professionals... who get things right about as often as they don't. It's a fun discussion about what is "good" news, as opposed to "bad" news in the market, and how the media so frequently spins news that's good for buyers as bad news for a market.
The first section of our seminar is 39 slides about the current state of the market. It's about 45 minutes long and covers both sides of our market that has the California and Nevada state line running through it. The slides detail demand, supply, price, absorption, escrow and the odds of selling a house in the market right now.
There is a slide showing the real estate cycle since 1970, a review of expired listings, the average difference between list and sold prices, and a fun discussion about "turning down money." Throughout this first section, there are 24 charts and graphs and 6 animated gifs.
The second section of each of our real estate seminars, also about 45 minutes, covers an array of subjects. There are 40 slides in it. The section starts with a discussion about how to use and subscribe to the information found in our Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog. There are about 10 slides on Agency and the teamwork necessary for a successful sale or purchase of a house.
Following is an important discussion about who your buyers are, what they like, why they buy, the methods of advertising that work for them, and what doesn't. The session concludes with details about the risk of over-thinking market changes and the potential costs associated with it. The bottom line being that there are some excellent opportunities for buyers right now. The key being of course how to find them among those that are not. There are 18 charts and graphs in this section.
The image here is at the beginning of our second break.
The third section of our seminar is about price. It takes about 30 minutes. The information is the same for both buyers and sellers. There are 36 slides to this section with many charts and graphs. Included is an extensive look at what one should have to best price and evaluate a house in this market. Most of the time in this section is devoted to it.
Perhaps the most audience receptive part of it are our Value Graphs, two charts where a buyer or seller can clearly visualize the value of a home on the market.
Before it all started. Here Gary and Maxene's son Olivier get ready. It takes about 5 weeks to produce each seminar. Much of that time includes the research and writing. The charts and graphs take about two weeks to produce alone. We run a two-week campaign to expose each one. This includes both direct mail and newspaper advertising. This time we sent our 8,000 pieces of direct mail.
We set up the day before. There were four rehearsals the week of, which included one for the newspaper and one for our brokers. The last rehearsal is always the night before. It starts as soon as we have the projector set up properly and is done from start to finish with me in the room alone.
Maxene and Gary also do the food and refreshment set ups too. For Saturday morning seminars we do a continental breakfast with fresh fruit, croissants, bagels and assorted pasteries. We serve a pizza and salad dinner for those that we do on weeknights. What we like is our attendees seem to like what we do to help make them comfortable. This time the only thing that was left was a half of a chocolate muffin.
An informal question and answer discussion usually follows each seminar. This was the beginning of it, here with the real estate investors who attended. Behind were three local contractors who were waiting to talk to us. About 45 minutes this time, these after-seminar exchanges are particularly informative and rewarding for us, and we hope for our attendees as well.
