Barry Papagno

Maybe the Righteous Brothers top hit, 'You"ve Lost That Loving Feeling" , gained its roots from working agents in a market like this one.

The prices in Mass. dropped in November 16% to the largest single monthly year over year price decline since accounters began tracking numbers in 1987. Like, 21 years ouch. And sales closed dropped from 3,210, to 2600 . Units closed at a medium of $275,000 from last years same medium price monthly 2007 of $330,000.

SO what drags the Agents down, its called being part of the Bad New Bears Band. Instead of making optimistic music daily. The words we must sing are some what like this,

"the bank wants more information and letters of explaination of why you have not change the oil in your cars for one year" " I know your putting down 30% but they want to know everything now. Sorry!!

Sorry, the market took that extra $40,000 dollars in equity that you had two years ago. But those boarded up house's next door are bringing your innocent family home down in value. "

" The Ceptic system that served your home for 50 years is now determined by the experts as failed, and the new one will cost about $35,000 to install and approve, and you can not sell without it being done. And it will not bring you one more dollar in value when selling. "

" My favorite Sir. "the 11% 2nd mortgage and the 9% first can not be renegotiated, your bank says because of a loss of value in the home, and it is not in default. However they say they sometimes do negotiate with people who unlike you , do not make their payments for 4 to 6 months and are heading into foreclosure. Those are the options according to your bank. Get close to being thrown out and losing the home, and maybe then they will negotiate high , existing killer interest rates?????

Wonder why we working Realtors look so darn Thunderstruck about noon, each day at the office?

Still our agents are getting it done daily. It requires more truth, knowing what the market is, but it gets hard. The silliness ,the overreaction to the crisis wall street made for us all, who work for a living, will linger on.

I still can't figure how it all got so screwed up but from what I understand, Wall Street and Mortgage Companies un-regulated created a mess globally. Think of it this way, they, (WALL STREET) were in the Ice Cream Business and With their packing beautiful White fresh Ice cream to sell, they put in an ounce of Donkey dung with every ounce of white ice cream, and calling it a Three star Ice Cream. It took a while but then it started to taste and look funny. Bingo, it ruined the Housing Market.

As agents in this new year 2009. Our challange is to not add listings that will not sell to the market. Creating an additional illusion of a never ending supply of inventory. To help our Clients achieve their goals, we must know the trends of mortgage requirements , watch our Death dates on contracts, get perfomance dates enforced, get larger Surety of closing after negotiations, "deposit " as you may call it. We need to bullet proof our transactions for our sellers.

And further we need to have listings to attract buyers. They are going to shop more and more from home, on the web, and at their leisure with less urgency.

Perhaps for the Agent this year the truth may be, for the worker the week may have 7 days, and for the lazy agent the week may have seven tomorrows. Again we are going to have to shift and it will all be in your attitude to see the true opportunities this market can bring agents, who want to take ground they will never surrender once the Market turns.

IT may not feel good, but its gotta be done. And its what we do, better than any one else. Be proud, be strong, and be the best you can be each day. Being a Realtor is such a worthwhile profession and career.Always has been , always will be. Each day we make a valid impact on the economy and the lives of our Clients.

Barry Papagno

Hello and welcome to December 2008. And do not get scroooged this month. Its important that you bear with me and read this little note.

So many agents feel this is a slow month. I can tell you otherwise.

It's a buying mood month.

Agents, who sleep in December, die in the first quarter of the New Year. Just see that as a fact.

I watched in 2007 those agents who were great agents but became spenders instead of making Penders.

Man they got so COLD sales wise. And those who did not work in Nov and Dec paid a terrible price with no closings in Jan and Feb and March.

Caught without penders and No good listings, most did not have a pay day until May 2008.

It takes 30 days to break a habit and 30 to make a habit. Do not wait folks !

There are agents who without teams took off the summer or last fall in November and December, paid a terrible price. Further agents who counted on deals before they closed were foolishly led. Agents then stopped lead generating and entered the market cold again. And again , income for those went up and down and away.

So many Agents stopped mailing, thank you cards, personal notes, then circled the wagons and tried to protect income. They stopped making investments in branding and budget and goal models , sadly they lost big time. Those who stopped making calls to thier clients and cold, warm leads, stopped bringing ideas and value daily , weekly and monthly to data base lost again.

In this game you stop and stall, your out. Untill you break the chill and push the rock uphill again. When your hot your hot, and when your not, well you got to, just have to work ceaselessly untill your hot again.

For many in our game , that consistant work effort has not happened. That needed resolve has not kicked in.

For our competitors surely It is easier to whine, to make excuses to loved ones, and to go with the headlines that say we are in an awful market. They are going out of business, adopt thier orphans and take that market they did not want. They are quitting rather then to dig deep and find the market portion that is alive and vibrant and loaded with paydays.

Do not make the mistake that most agents make and ever break your work habits, start making

good habits today, show homes, view homes, get on listing presentations, fight for market share build your pipeline of pending deals and good listings now, get out of Telephone Terror, network, call people ask for business, talk about hot deals in the market place. Work again, and for those working, sharpen your brand and promotion of yourself.

Do not enter the 2009 market COLD; you will be broke and old before your time. DO Not do it. It is so anti career minded. A fatal mistake.

It's December start right now and turn up the heat on yourself. Be a fire-starter now. You have to Shake off the doldrums and get hot, do not wait until the New Year.

Make your habit now. Improve your market now. Be a tough boss to yourself now. And now you have to " get to getting it on."

Remember this saying "if it's going to be, it's up to ME."

Come January do not be picked up on the Loser Cruiser, the ride is free but it has so many negative people on Board. Stop making the excuses and delays and just go at getting things done inch by inch.

It's always better to feel uncomfortable doing lead generation, than uncomfortable without any MONEY.

Its so true, "no money no honey, "no Finance , less romance" Trust me its done inch at a time, and in the end when you work honestly and follow models of work , You will find it easier to get rich than to continue to make excuses.

.

Respectfully Barry Papagno OP

Finally it got done, in a lot of ways this whole mess of goofy loans made to "get Americans into Homes", reminds me of why NAR and our Lobby fought so hard for the last 30 years to deny Banks and Wall Street from getting into our Business of Real Estate.

Here are some facts from John OGG on his article the bailout.

Pretty unfair, to consumers and all hurt by the scheming and bundling experts on Wall Street.

In a few more months many bestsellers will come out with titles like Mortgage Lust, Bank robbery, Ruin a economy by Mortgage , and many more. The sad fact is this could have all been prevented but someone was asleep at the wheel in the Goverment . A crime has been committed that we will all pay for dearly.

USA Per Capita Bailout Costs

The $700 billion financial system bailout has so far stabilized the financial markets. That part is hard to debate. The long term effects, the path, and the implications are, of course, up for debate. The questions in many discussions this weekend were what the real costs would be and whether or not these institutions should be allowed to fail.

So, one issue we wanted to consider, was what exactly does this translate to on a per individual in the U.S. In 2006, there were more than 133.9 million individual tax returns and the total number of tax returns including corporations, employment taxes, and more came to more than 168.8 million. We decided to use the larger number of 168.8 million as a representation for the entire tax system rather than just individuals, since the larger number of roughly $2.5 trillion collected was only about half of the total collections from individuals. After all, we are all in the same soup on bailouts here.

The $700 billion bailout translates to roughly $4,147.00 per filer. If you wanted to use just the individual tax filings, you would come up with more than $5,200.00. That is the price of saving Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Lehman, Countrywide, and other failed financial institutions via assisted mergers and other bailouts. We haven't even gotten to the other failures which are waiting in the wings

Well, warm weather was the liquid wrench this market needed, our office has picked up in offers and buyers, lots of well informed buyers, coming to the table, taking advantage of this tremendous time to buy good real estate.

A good few weeks indeed. Sellers finally are listening to the talented agents who bring in well qualified clients with offers and bids on their homes. Finally that is getting easier; sellers are getting it more and more. The news's that price compensates for this market has been received poorly but makes sense to those who are serious about moving on with life and the past of higher values. Now tested is Patience on the part of serious buyers. As the Vice tightens in the world of good qualified buyers getting a mortgage approved.

Buyers have to go through the paces and places of tough underwriting standards by cautious bankers.

But sold signs are going up, and everyone has learned to drop the past nose bleed price wishes of 2 years ago, at least everyone who is selling and moving on with their lives.

Don't get me wrong , Plymouth and Bristol County still have lots of inventory left to sell, and with agents and sellers if your home or listing is slightly overpriced by even 10% your in for a long wait to sell. And when you reduce it you may receive 12% less depending on the market and town but for sure in a downward market, you do get less the longer it takes to sell.

We at Keller Williams Easton are teaching as fast as we can our agents daily and retooling them to get today's education they and their buyers and sellers need. It is a complex market to understand ; a "shifting ‘Market and timing is a valuable asset.. Leadership is everyone's opportunity in this company. Lead in the market or follow a leader, its time to work . All hands on deck the perfect storm is not over and will not be for quite a while.

But last month and this month the action is back. Some will, some will wonder, and some will fence sit , but sellers and buyers are reaching agreements and going to closings. AH !!! Spring time in Real Estate the best Juice on the market today.

Stay plugged in for now. Be part of something big, help a seller a day, then eat an apple to keep the doctor away.

I am starting this blog, to hopefully bring trends that may interest agents, buyers and sellers in this 2nd quarter real estate market of 2008. The perception presently in this local market place is that it may not be a great time to buy real estate. The reality is, it is always a great time to buy good real estate.

I plan to post trends and facts that do not hid the challenges in this market place, but show clearly that priced right Real Estate that is "not on the market but priced in the market are getting multiple offers and selling above asking price. In each community my office work's in, there are gaps and very little inventory in well located neighborhoods. Buyers are so reluctant and most of the starter buyers that "free up the Trade up clients, are simply "shopped out". Credit tight, confidence down and paying monthly bills have strapped lots of them.

However there are sales happing each and every day, and buyers who qualify and are motivated towards home ownership and willing to pay premium price for a well located home. And they will get financing. Many buyers understand clearly that a home is a place to live not a stock market investment;

Lenders are not as willing to lend as they want buyers to spend no more than 28 percent of their gross monthly income on mortgage payments, real estate taxes, and home insurance. Buyers shouldn't count on stretching further because lenders won't approve their loans.

For all involved in the Real Estate business this next quarter will require focus, careful consultation of clients and an extra cup of strength as the housing bubble tightens its grip and agents face to little buyers, unreasonable pricing expectations of sellers, and the sub-prime fallout, being driven down even further by loss mitigation officers who do not listen to common sense.

April 6th 2008---springtime in Real Estate. Rainy and grey days do not help with sales. This week many offers have been taken. And lots of activity noticed in new home sites, (but there is just not enough product up to see and touch by these buyers in New Homes.) Activity is good on homes in well located neighborhoods, and subdivisions. And Properly priced homes are selling. Homes that have modern floor plans and have been kept in perfect shape inside and outside. The buyers are bidding on those homes. The cozy Bungalow, the high priced custom built Colonial.

The reluctant buyer is Shying away from the homes that just do not have curb appeal or have the perception they will need to meet a lot of contractors, to make the home the way they want it. Sorry, but lots of buyers are both working jobs to make ends meet and are to busy to pick up the hammer or paint brush anymore.

Seems to me, that In the minds of the buyers with low rates and prices dropping, urgency has to be created by the price of the listing offered and the move in condition of the home.

Price sets the pace of attraction of value with buyers in this market. And condition and location is what gives them the resolve to make the plunge.

But as always The Agent who is Marketing and his or her skill set has a lot to do with having the home picked by the buyer as "one to view."

MLS LISTING REMARKS are the best ad an agent can have, since 80% of the buyers are already working the intranet and working with a Broker. Make your sellers home stand out.

Here are a few "Tips"

Never forget that Posted MLS remarks are your best ad! And like all classified ads it should have a catchy headline,

EASE THE SQUEEZE, Embassy size colonial offers 3000 square feet of modern, bright magnificent living space.

Stop Foreclosure and walk with ease into Equity.

Let your tenants build your wealth, call today and see what it takes to qualify with this west side unique well maintained Three Family.

Retire in style in this special 3 bedroom affordable and sparkling maintained Ranch. A hint of elegance, muted elegance, Builder Fresh, Young and Beautiful, A sparkling rendition of country classic.

Attention Skeptics, Nature is your decorator, Privacy prevails, Wild Neighbors (birds, chipmunks and Deer) Run WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS WIFE, in this over 55 active community, jogging, swim and tennis to just name a few activities offered.

The body of the ad should say what the home will do for the buyer! "You'll enjoy the spaciousness and classic comfort of";" You'll never look back" list its best special features, sunlit, maple kitchen with breakfast Island. Drift away in your 3 season sun porch. Entertain friends with pride at cookouts on oversized polished mahogany wrap around deck, finished lower level may be your office or favorite relaxing spot.. And always give location," Chestnut Knoll Setting < Easton: number of bedrooms, number of rooms.

Next task in attracting buyers, are the photos used in a property listing. Take lots of them and like the show Top Model only pick the best of the best shots. Use light, a wide angle lens, and seek any photos the owner may have that reflect the seasonal best features of the home, green lawns, swimming pool shots etc. Shrubs in bloom. Its marketing folks and marketing at glossy best in today's environment. Finally; I myself can not wait to have the perfect selling setting to do more home sales and I think of that wonderful Beatle song, "Here comes the sun."

April 10 2008 End of another good week, good inventory selling, lots of sellers on the fence with selling now or waiting, and buyers feeling that the better homes priced right do sell and it is sort of competitive out there in the market to find the "good located homes". OH but most frustrating is working with Banks who are soon to be sellers on many Short Sales issues, this week I have to say, Bankers you have to pull your head out of the sand. Half of the short sales have good buyers who are paying a fair price for the property in near foreclose situations.

And more than half of these Banks ignore the facts and let the foreclosure happen. Now it may be an easy decision to foreclose, easier than taking a property and saving it from going to auction, by having a higher ear towards empathy for your sellers and the buyers and agents. But what you do to the whole community is a crime.

By ignoring the short sale deal on the table, and foreclosing on the seller. What happens then, now we set the property on the very crowded market? Evict the former owner, and winterize the home, and lower the sale price which effect's downward the values on the whole of the neighborhood, in addition to making the home a distressed property in most cases.

Bankers Why not change your mind about all short sales, work them all out, keep the former owner in the house so at the closing one family trades the key and the deed to the home and the former owner lets the new family move in the home. Most times what the Bank officers tell me is, "they are just doing their job" Or "they have a Board of Directors to answer to." This is code for banks being short sighted and foolish and mean minded, thinking the whole world is that "REO" folder they are glancing at.

Sure they have many reasons for not doing the right thing. And lately Real Estate agents have heard them all. As time goes by, more and more Bankers are getting it done better, but there are still too many arrogant and short sighted loss mitigation bank workers with the wrong attitude and a negative mindset adding to the housing mess their former 101% goofy loans created in the first place. We in Brockton have now 700 vacant homes that have been foreclosed and most had a potential homeowner who would have bought the home before foreclosure. Best Banker Line of the week, "We are only protecting our position." "You're Position"? Have some empathy will you guys, have a vision of the community your bank was working in will you please? Get this fact that changing one's mindset is a great sign of character, start listening and stop boarding up the windows of homes. That is my rant this week; while the Government spends more time on Federal bailouts of these blinded by the righteous make your own rule book lenders. The loss mangers of these banks should work as fast as the buyers who want to buy, want to own that home. Put a little more get up in your get up and get up to speed with our market place reality.