New Brunswick

I’ve become a very savvy computer whiz through my former education in Math & Science, being a former educator and having all of those SEO’s on ActiveRain teaching me and all of the other co-computer savy REALTORS®. The Information Era is here to stay!!!

Today, salespeople who accept & embrace the internet ultimately make their businesses more profitable, while the Realtor who chooses to ignore the internet usually pay the price by going “Out of Business” very quickly. The Realtors who recognize this & make it easy for their consumers to access their information and see what makes them superior also succeed in generating many more sales. We have on our fingertips, the ability to analyze our customer’s behaviors by the way they navigate on our particular websites. That can tell you a lot about your local customers.

So the question is; Will it create more FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner)? No, only if we educate the uneducated consumer on the benefits of using a REALTOR®.

Today, many uneducated consumers fail to see the value of the services of a REALTOR®. Consumers want to save on the commissions, but many don’t get the proper exposure of their property to their potential buyers. With today’s fluctuating market, many of these FSBO’s are either priced too high or too low. Therefore consumers don’t have the most accurate info on their fingertips about what their property is really worth. These consumers are NOT prepared for the disturbing phones calls, unqualified buyers and stressful negotiations that will be needed. The FSBO owner isn’t aware of the potential legal current issues needed before closing their property.

For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Statistics from 2008 NAR Source: 2008 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

FSBO’s accounted for 13% of home sales in 2008. The typical FSBO home sold for $153,000 compared to $211,000 for agent-assisted home sales.

FSBO Methods Used to Market Home:

• Listing on Internet/FSBO website: 45%
• Yard sign . . . 42%
• Friends/neighbors . . . 33%
• Newspaper ad . . . 22%
• Open house . . . 18%

Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers:

• Selling within the planned length of time: 13%
• Getting the right price: 12%
• Preparing/fixing up home for sale: 11%
• Understanding and performing paperwork: 10%
• Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale: 8%

Online FSBO’s offer a variety of services such as; online advertising or auctions, possible time on a cable network, sign kits, brochures or guides on how to sell your home, staging, lawyers, appraisers & access to mortgage brokers. They can charge home sellers $300-$1,200 depending on the services requested. The best part is that most consumers are not aware that these are all available for FREE from most real estate board offices, realty companies and their salespersons.

The BIGGEST problem here is those FSBO consumers don’t have access to the huge group of salespersons and their buyers, since they are NOT part of the REALTORS®' MLS listing system. So the homeowner is basically isolating themselves & their properties by eliminating most potential buyers and salespersons.

In conclusion:

Professional REALTORS® will:

1) Receive all the calls: good & bad.

2) Ensure that only qualified buyers see your property, thus eliminating people who are just “nosey” and endless traffic in your home.

3) They gather all the feedback from potential buyers.

4) Address the sellers on any concerns coming out of the showings.

5) Discuss the latent defects that are usually not readily observable by the seller themselves.

6) Will negotiate the best possible deal for their sellers, from their exposure to negotiations on a daily basis.

7) Your successful agent will know how to find the right info (online or offline) and use it to their seller’s advantage.

8) Are aware of the time constrictions of their sellers and will help to sell it on a timely manner.

Now, knowing this, my question is; "Why would you not hire a REALTOR® to sell your home?"

I need you guys and gals to use your imagination to the best of your ability... in fact, please brainstorm these photos, they are funny!!!

Normally, I usually see a beautiful sunny, colorful sunrise, like the photos on the sides of my blog. Today, I woke up to a quiet, sunny, beautiful morning and found an unknown, interesting and very artistic creature on my observation deck. Came up the stairway and looked through one window to find this!

Looked at it unsure what to make of it, so I did a double-take and observed it again!

Living in Atlantic Canada, it wouldn't surprise me if it's some kind of friendly or frightening creature that climbed up my deck? How did it get here? There's nothing between the deck and the 2nd floor from the outside, except the very extreme hip roofline. It apparently has arms, a head and a body. It looks like it wants to grab something or someone, maybe me!!! Does it have wings? Did it fly onto my observation deck?? So I look at it through the other side of my French doors.

It actually has an extended body, that it seems to be dragging on. Couldn't see what's on the bottom of the end, so I look at it even closer.

It actually has an endless tail that he/she/or it seems to be dragging on.. Couldn't find any shoes or feet....

OMG: It's a ghost! or ....... Is It? Is it a white fluffy icing that someone is playing a trick on me? Since it's now attached to the bottom of my door, How do I get it off my deck???

PLEASE, DOES ANYONE KNOW KNOW IF THEY HAVE SEEN THIS PHENOMENA, CREATURE, THING OR DELICIOUS DESSERT BEFORE???

I'm sure the southern states haven't seen this around.... I LOVE WINTER AND THE UNEXPECTED GUESTS, ESPECIALLY THE CREATIVE ARTISTIC NATURE TYPE!!! ;>))

Why Should You Hire Me?

Real estate has gone from paper & pencil days, to high-tech knowledge! Today, there are many other local REALTORS® that you can hire in the Saint John community. Some of those REALTORS® have never had additional training other than the formal training they received from the Province/State they got their original training from, with some many years ago. Others say they are certified but never show their credentials on additional training. Now the question should be: Why do some REALTORS® keep training, while others just look for the next listing or client?

Don’t get me wrong, the training I received from New Brunswick Real Estate Association was wonderful and I learned plenty, but it was just the “Tip of the Iceberg”. The extra training I obtained after my former REALTOR® training gave me an edge to really research and dive into the real estate market in Saint John, NB.

When I first began my real estate career, I joined the ActiveRain network, a network that has 170,000 professionals from a variety of real estate professions. ie: brokers, mortgagers, home inspectors, banks, etc. Reading other REALTORS® blogs, SEO learning sessions, referring clients, asking questions and finding answers gave me insight to the world of the internet and how to capture it.

Did this all came in at a cost? With additional certifications or membership statuses, there were always additional fees to take the classes, fees to keep my designations, seminars & annual international meetings for networking, therefore, $$$ to keep my skills & networking up-to-date, that came out of my pocket and not the brokerages.

Today, besides the annual training with NBREA (New Brunswick Real Estate Board & SJREA (Saint John Real Estate Board), I’ve had 3 additional certifications and/or memberships to obtain that additional training to work with all sorts of individuals, cultures and income.

My first one, I received when working with Prudential Summit Real Estate, I got my “e-Certified” designation. This meant that I could easily and quickly google the internet and that I was a computer savy REALTOR® in the latest technology and services. Do REALTORS® need to be computer savy? Yes, of course, since today we are dealing with an International group of clients. We need to be as up-to-date on computer techniques and known services on the internet to sell our clients property globally and to be able to find them a property to their next destination worldwide.

My second designation, I received before I moved to Royal LePage Atlantic, my current brokerage firm. I received my ACCREDITED GREENAGENT™ certification. To receive this certification you have to take 3 Residential or 4 Commercial courses through NAGAB (National Association of Green Agents & Brokers) out of Toronto, Ontario. Currently, NAGAB has 27,000 members who have had this training. The other criteria was to be actively engaged in the real estate profession and to hold a valid real estate license in your province. Finally, you had to be approved by the NAGAB committee. To keep this designation, all GREENAGENT™ Realtors have to take an additional class annually to keep their skills up on the technological advances for Green real estate. The 3 courses I took were: Hydro Usage, Home Energy Efficiency and Green Heating & Cooling Options for the Home. There was an exam for each course that you needed to get 80% completion to receive credit.

My third designation, I received working with Royal LePage Atlantic was when I had to go to Sarasota, Florida this past summer to receive the extensive training. I got membership to the “Institute for Luxury Homes Marketing” or ILHM. They have trained over 8,000 real estate professionals on four continents!

This was an eye opening experience and I’m very happy I got the training! Having lived in Florida before, it was a pleasure to revisit one of the 10 places I’ve lived in this world! Having this training introduced me to another world of online websites for marketing & advertising, presentation skills, photography & visual arts. Plus learning information about the needs & demands of affluent buyers & sellers. They also gave me the social grace I needed when speaking to these individuals, since discretion was one of their primary goals. Having lived in many places in my lifetime helped put all of these new skills in perspective to utilize daily.

Membership with ILHM has given me a partnership with these corporations that help me receive special products, services and pricing: Altos Research, American Affluence Research Center, DuPont Registry, FIABCI, Gooder Group and LuxuryProperty.com.

I’ve obtain a luxury agent profile on the Wall Street Journal’s website, membership in an International property MLS and agent networking site. I get an opportunity to promote international builders & developers projects on my website and many other discounts & freebies on the previous corporations named.

To receive this certification you have to take an intensive 2-day course and pass two written tests at 80%. The 2 courses I took were: Positioning & Branding Yourself as a Luxury Home Expert and A Luxury Marketing Idea Blitz. Another benefit to these two courses, were they are accepted with the CRS (Council of Residential Specialists) for 1 unit course each, total 2 unit courses for obtaining my CRS credentials in the near future. I have the competency, desire & fortitude to learn new skills, the understanding of global issues, attitudes, cultures & interests. I listen & learn to the changing real estate market, present superb listing presentations, go all out for my clients, knowledge of luxury home marketing systems, green technology knowledge & awareness and finally the willingness & savy to know that real estate is an ever changing market.

Finally, going back to the titled question, “Why Should You Hire Me?”

I have the competency, desire & fortitude to learn new skills, the understanding of global issues, attitudes, cultures & interests. I listen & learn to the changing real estate market, go all out for my clients, present superb listing presentations, knowledge of luxury home marketing systems, green technology knowledge & awareness and finally the willingness & savy to know that real estate is an ever changing market.

Predicting real estate listings, unit sales, and dollar volume in any economy is difficult at best. However, it is possible to a degree, depending on how well you have studied your market area over a reasonable amount of years. Of course none of us wish to be wrong or appear to not know what we are talking about. Well, that just happens to be the Dark Hole we enter when we take the risk of predicting anything.

The important thing is that it doen't matter whether you are right or wrong but what you can share with others and what you can take away from the experience. So lets review the results of my predictions for 2009 and have a peek at my ----PREDICTIONS FOR 2010.

(1) Employment will remain strong in Fredericton throughout 2009?----Yes, I was right and I take from this that I can predict that employment will continue to remain strong throughout 2010. That's real good news if I am right again.

(2) Interest rates will remain strong at aroung the 4 to 5 per centage range. Yes, that has certainly held well. In fact it even stablized at closer to the 4% range. What we can take from that is it appears it will remain at the 4% range throughout 2010. Certainly at least until June 30,2010. The latter part of the year is a little more unpredictable due to global volitily.

(3) Immigration will remain as strong as it was in 2008. Yes, that has come to be. Again, because there is this great interest in the Province bringing in immigrants to New Brunswick it appears that this trend will continue thoughout 2010 just as strong and maybe even stronger than 2008 or 2009.

(4) Independent Mortgage Brokers will flourish as conventional banks tighten up their lending practices. No, that did not happen. In fact the banks must have read my predictions because they actually loosened up there lending practices to the joy of many promising buyers. Which I might add assisted greatly in affording the very successful market we enjoyed throughout 2009. Let's hope they continue this school of thought. Because of our strong economic economy I believe they will be happy to lend unabated throughout 2010.

(5) Appraisers will flourish as homes values drop. No, homes values not only did not drop but they went up a whopping 10% over 2008 prices. I expect this will change in 2010 and prices will be about the same or go down slightly to about the 5% range.

(6) Smaller and more conservative priced homes will sell much faster than big ticket homes. Yes, that did turn out to be true. However, I don't think they did because of a tighter economy but because they would have anyway, because there are predictably more buyers in the smaller price range historically. For 2010 both smaller priced homes and expensive homes will sell will throughout the year.

(7) Location, location, location will not be as much a factor to buying as most consumers will only be too happy to pay less for a home farther from the city center. No, this did not happen as predicted. Mainly, because gas prices went down quicker than expected and the market remained strong throughout the year and in fact there was no change in purchasing locations from 2008. People just continued to buy in the same geographical areas they purchased in 2008. This trend will continue throughout 2010.

(8) Listing portfolios will increase and sales will decrease proportionally at about 10% as there will be less buyers on the market throughout 2009. No, wrong! The opposite happened. Listings decreased at -6% by year end and sales increase at a plus +4% by year end. I really love to be wrong here. However, I should point out that units did decrease by only -1% by year end. My predictions here for 2010 is that listings will be down about 20% by year end and sales will be down about 20% also. The reason is that condo building is about at an end and the market will cool as government projects come to a screaming halt. Sorry, but this is what my crystal ball tells me.

(9) Condo sales will remain strong as consumers will opt for condos over single family homes. Yes, this did happen and this trend will continue throughout 2010 as there are a lot of condos which did not sell in 2009. The good news is that this over supply of condos will furnish sales for the first quarter of 2010. Thus, helping us to get a good early start in sales for 2010. Condo building will continue to lesson throughout 2010.

(10) Cottage sales will suffer as consumers look to conserve their disposable income. Yes, there were very little cottage sales throughout 2009. However, because the global economies appear to be strengthening, cottage sales should be stronger throughout 2010.

(11) Commercial real estate sales will suffer as lending institutions will be reluctant to finance commercial buildings. Yes, right! Commercial does remain difficult to finance. Howver, again with our strong economic expectations for 2010 I believe this will be a new shining light for 2010, in that commercial will be a way for banks to dispose of their great over supply of cash which they have little market demand throughout 2010.

(12) Credit will be tight. No, wrong! In fact, other than in the first quarter of 2009 credit was not tight at all. The loosening of credit in the last 3 quarters of 2009 really was a beacon of light to an otherwise recessionary 2009. Great going Banks for all your help in fording up our economy for 2009. I expect this to continue throughout 2010.

(13) Builders will build as much as 40% less homes for 2009 as compared to 2008. Yes, right! Builder were scared in 2009. In fact, they mostly would only build custom homes(meaning they only built pre-sold homes) for buyers. There were practically no spec. homes built compared to 2008. My prediction is that that will change throughout 2010 as our strong economic outlook will bolster the builders confidence to build more spec. homes throughout 2010. We will see!!!

(14) New construction in apartment buildings will be almost totally dead for 2009 as supply has all but caught up to demand. Yes, this turned out to be quite accurate as there was little demand for tenant accomodation. This trend is expected to continue throughout 2010.

(15) The number of real estate salespeople will start to dwindle as we enter 2009. Yes, this was true early in 2009. However, it came to a sceaming halt as the ecomomy strengthened and salespeople realized that it might not be such a bad market after all. In fact, we ended up with almost as many salespeople by December 31,2009 as we had at December 31,2008. I believe this will not change much throughout 2010. In fact, until we experience a down market the sales force for Fredericton will be constant.

Well Folks, there is my synopsis for 2009 and my predictions for 2010 all in one. Let's see how it plays out as we experience 2010. I take this opportunity to wish everyone every success in this new 2010. Good luck to all, Phil. Booker, Booker Realty, 717 Woodstock Rd., Fredericton, N. B. e3b-5n8.

December was quite typical of the past several Decembers. Listings dipped -4% and finished year over year at -6% which has been the norm this past few years.

December sales where also quite typical as to the Decembers in the past. Units sales are only down -1% and Dollar volume was also down a -1% for the month. However, it is enlightening to see dollar volume year over year is up +4% to $368,200,000 from $356,367,000 in 2008. To keep our production in perspective it is prudent to understand that our 2009 sales of $368,200,000 is exactly -10% reduction of our sales of $378,000,000 in 2007.

The good news is that even if we drpped to $300,000,000 per year in the Fredericton area we would still be experiencing a fantastic real estate market. Our industry has been good to us during this very trying global recession around the world.

Fortunately, 2010 seems to be shaping up as a relatively prosperous year with only about a -15% gross volume production by December 2010. This great news should boost the economy for the near future and help support other industries in mantaining the status que and not have the need of laying off their employees.

Interest rates are still at an all time low of 3.79% for 5 year term as I write this blog. Wow, are we in good times. These rates go way back to the 1950's. This is a lot better than the 1980's rates of 23% for a 5 year term.

So Buyers get out there and take advantage of an opportunity which will not last forever. Buy your dream home today with your favourite real estate salesperson. Hope to see you all in the new year.

Happy New Year everyone and I wish you a very successful and prosperous 2010. Best regards, Phil.