Everyone knows the kind of Train Wreck foreclosures have put the real estate industry in nationally. I'm not here to debate why, how, or who's fault. I'd like to discuss something the media and everyone else seem to leave out - the children being affected by the housing market fallout.
It affects all ages.
Many, if not most, families that took out subprime, Alt-A, and Option ARM loans over the last few years have children. Young, old, or tweeners - it doesn't matter. The fact is that many more children are having to deal and cope with the financial and emotional stress that foreclosures and short sales put on a family today than any time in history.
Kids are smart.
They're smarter than we give them credit for. Just look back at the things you knew were going on in your family that they thought they were hiding from you. Kids are super sensitive to the emotions of their parents and siblings. They know when something is wrong in the household. They can hear tension in their parent's voices. Why try hiding something that the kids are going to find out about any way? It will be a big clue when you have to move.
Talk with them, not to them.
Don't just tell your kids the way it is. Well, we're behind on house payments, pack up your stuff, say by to the neighborhood friends, we're moving to [insert town or new neighborhood here]. Of course, it depends on their age, but kids can understand what's going on if you talk about it in a logical, rational way. Tell them that times are tough. Tell them that every-thing's going to be alright as long as you stick together. Since you've got to bear through it anyway, make a life lesson out of it. Help you kids to avoid pitfalls down the road.
Communication keeps you close.
Talk to your kids. Let them talk to you. Meet with your pastor, preacher, rabbi, or mentor to help you through this difficult time in your family's lives. Hardship can create resentment so keep talking to your kids and help them deal. They'll thank you for it down the road.
There are lots of resources now for families facing foreclosure. Don't wait and hope everything works out. Make plans and know your options. Keep communication with your bank or lender - they don't want you to default on the loan anymore than you do. See if they can work with you to lower payments or refinance.
If you are in one of these families, take it upon yourself to get some help from an advisor. Start with a good agent and tell them your situation. Realtors are bound by law and a code of ethics to keep anything you tell them in the strictest confidence. Leave a message here or contact me to take the first step in getting out of a tough situation.
Sorry for the non P.C. holiday post. I just feel this is a subject that needs some attention from our community. Maybe we can make a few more happy holidays before Santa squeezes down the chimney.
What are some of the ways we as professionals can ease this suffering for families across the U.S?
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Few builders prosper in up times and down. Roth Custom Homes of Northwest Arkansas is prospering for the simple fact that they sell remarkably high quality homes at a minimum cost to home buyers. Now Roth Custom Homes has teamed up exclusively with the newest EXIT office in the region, EXIT Pro Realty, to provide a great selection of new homes with a wide variety of locations, floor plans, and prices to meet the needs of home buyers in Northwest Arkansas.
Roth Custom Homes all feature a number of key amenities that set them apart from the average home builder:
Along with 30+ additional features that make Roth Custom Homes the most sought after product in the Northwest Arkansas Real Estate Market. Prices currently range from the $120's up to the $230's with an average price per heated square foot around $89. Roth Custom Homes range in size from 1,500 up to 2,700 square feet.
Roth Custom Homes available in Bentonville
Biltmore Subdivision
Virginia's Grove
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The Arbors at Pinnacle Ridge in Rogers Arkansas is a maintenance free condominium community that hosts amenities from a swimming pool and putting green to a well-appointed clubhouse with a state-of-the art exercise room and social area. Find out why The Arbors is a fabulous community for anyone wanting great amenities, smart floor plans, and in-town convenience.
Convenient Location
Situated in the heart of Rogers, The Arbors at Pinnacle Ridge is just minutes from the Pinnacle Hills Promenade shopping and dining development, excellent health care facilities, and many area churches and social hot spots. Located just off interstate 540, take Exit 83 and head east on New Home Road to find the Arbors in Rogers Arkansas on your right on New Home Road and 21st Street.
The Arbors Offers European Country Style Homes
With many homes and floor plans to choose from with rich stone exteriors and brick accents, you are sure to find the home that meets your expectations and budget. Each building integrates a unique ‘pinwheel' design that provides residents with private garages and entrances to your property.
Each Villa at the Arbors in Rogers Arkansas provides these upscale amenities:
With 4 unique floor plans to choose from, sizes ranging from 1320-1925 square feet, and afforable pricing, you can be sure you will find a Villa that meets all of your wants and needs for high-end maintenance free living.
The Arbors has a Real Sense of Community
Many master-planned, maintenance free developments claim to have a sense of community, but the Arbors in Rogers is truly welcoming. Take a look at the community newsletter for the latest birthdays, anniversaries, resident news, and events at The Arbors at Pinnacle Ridge community website where local resident Mary Ellen Shorten does a fine job of providing the latest Arbors community information.
The Arbors at Pinnacle Ridge in Rogers Arkansas is a premier maintanence free living destination great for families looking to downsize, corporate professionals, young professionals, and anyone wanting to live a great livestyle with the minimum of fuss and all the convienences life can offer.
Contact us today to find out more about The Arbors at Pinnacle Ridge. For more information online visit ArborsNWA.com to find out more about floorplans, amenities, and open houses.
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I recently read a post titled "30 Web Trends for 2009″ that got me thinking about the top real estate trends in 2009. What's becoming or going to become the hot new thing, tool, technology, or technique in real estate for the coming year? I think ‘readers want to know...' Plus, its a great thing to go back to and either say, Wow, I was right on there." or "Man, I didn't know what I was talking about." So, here's what I see as the major trends to watch for in 2009 real estate.
Let's break it down by
The 2009 Real Estate Market
National Market
Are we far off a bottom or has it already passed? This is the topic it seems every news agency is trying to pin down from CNBC to Inman. There are so many variables when trying to intelligently predict a bottom and the up swing in the home market. Is it when inventory falls, when prices stagnate, when housing starts go back up? Without beating a dead horse, my personal opinion on the national market is that we are 6-9 months from the beginning of a bull or positively trending cycle. It will depend on public perspective as to how long this really takes.
Local Northwest Arkansas Real Estate Market
Real estate is a local business. I don't sell real estate in Dubai because I don't know much about Dubai and would be doing my clients a disservice. I know Northwest Arkansas real estate and I know that this market is much healthier than the average national market. Corporate insulation, population growth, and a general feeling of being a better place to live makes Northwest Arkansas on the cusp of a positive real estate market. Some numbers indicate that we may have already hit bottom and are looking at a very good spring. Other numbers indicate (because of the high number of foreclosed properties flooding the market) we still have some months to go. All I have to say is: interest rates are at historically low levels, housing prices are affordable, inventory is high . . . what in the world are you waiting for? If you are waiting on the bottom you may miss it by a mile because indicators always lag behind (by as much as 6 months). Go out and get the house you want. Can't because your home won't sell? Price your home properly, expose your home properly, and it will sell. The money you lose on the home for sell will be offset by the money you save on a low interest rate and low home price. Think about it.
Legal Issues
Paperwork
I see contracts getting even longer. Arkansas' current contract sits at 10 pages in 2008 for the basest paperwork. 2009 may not add pages, but we may see additional disclosures and addendum the must be signed on both the buyer's and seller's sides.
Banks and Mortgage Brokers
I think we all see what's going on here. Banks are going to be much more heavily regulated to stop predatory lending practices and high risk lending. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to have to lead the way (even though they are somewhat to blame for getting us in this mess in the first place). We'll have to see how the bailout progresses over the next few months. A word of advice, keep up your credit score if you are looking to borrow money in the near term or employ a credit repair company to help.
Realtors
It has already happened. Realtors are getting blamed for poor purchase decisions by clients. Banks and REO companies are even suing Realtors that have turned in price opinions that are way off the mark. Realtors need to practice their due diligence, research the information they give their clients ahead of time, and be able to back up the advice they give. I expect this to be a focus of training in brokerages and franchises across the nation in 2009.
Brokerages
Less is more
I think the trend has already begun. Minimalist, efficient brokerages like FavoriteAgent are popping up at quite a rate. With commercial space rental prices, on-going expenses, and more agents working from home, big brokerages with big desk fees and low splits are on their way out (or at least being handed their hat).
Training gets beefed up
As more part-timers get weeded out and professionals struggle in a tough market training will become essential for survival. Look for lots of training offered by franchises (EXIT, RE/MAX, Century 21, etc.) If they don't train their agents to stay around they'll go somewhere that will. Webinars, conferences, MLS boards, in-house - it's a great time to be an industry trainer. Look for some brokerages to front or completely cover the cost to keep struggling agents above water.
Technology and Social Media
Brokerages will finally get on the bus in 2009 and start offering smart solutionsfor their agents. Blogging, Web video, social network solutions and aggregation. Watch for brokerages to start training on these and other topics that aren't just fluff but help bring in real business. More brokerages will begin offering their agents and clients automated solutions that syndicate listings to Trulia, Hotpads, Zillow, Frontdoor, Craigslist, and whole lot more than just Realtor.com and their local mls.
The Internet
Information will flow . . .
Ever heard the term ‘the cup runneth over?' That's what is already beginning to happen with real estate on the Internet. Companies like Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, and Realtor.com will add more features to help consumers find homes, neighborhoods, and schools. Many have already gone to map based search solutions (think Google Earth) and many more will follow. There seems to be a war on to get agents to list their homes on a company's site and pay premiums for additional features and exposure for themselves and their clients. I expect there will be some players emerge as the top dogs with many mergers and deals in 2009.
Real estate is ready for video to go mainstream.
There are real estate practitioners that have been using video to market their properties for several years now. There are about to be a whole lot more. Trainers and industry experts are pushing video hard in 2009. Startup companies and ones that have been around a while from Vimeo, Vidller, and Veoh, to Wellcomemat, Animoto, and Youtube, are primed for the explosion of real estate web video. Get ready for amateur and professionally produced property, neighborhood, and city tours.
Social Media continues it's growth.
More users are going to start working smarter, not harder on social networks. Watch for innovators to combine social networks so that users can interact across sites and platforms. There will be a select few that use it, get it, and succeed. Many of the rest and the late adopters will simply be wasting their time. Sign up to get new listings from your agent through Twitter. Interact with agents and homeowners on linkedin, real estate voices, trulia answers, and local forums and blogs along with a bunch of others.
The static real estate site is dead or dying.
Real estate is local and happening right now. Static sites can't compete with Bloggers keeping clients, readers, and prospects up-to-date on a daily basis. More plugins, widgets, and designers for blogging have allowed the Wordpress Blogsite to become just as useful as an old static site and beat them in the search engines in the process. Learn to use RSS feeds to stay current and keep your inbox uncluttered. Get to local blogs to get the real scoop from local agents on the ground. In Northwest Arkansas, look for big things from EXITprorealty.net towards the end of the first quarter of ‘09.
Buyer and Seller Mindsets
Sellers
Sellers are going to get educated in 2009 and make smart decisions to get their homes sold. There is still going to be a lot of fear pumped in by the media and housing indicators but sellers are starting to learn that real estate is local and not all areas are as bad as the large metropolitan areas. Watch for sellers to start expecting upgraded home listings through the use of single property websites, web video home tours, and listings leveraged by social media and networking.
Buyers
Buyers are going to get a clue that this market isn't going to last forever and go ahead and buy a home. I think buyers are waiting in the wood works for a few reasons: Credit and lending issues, fear about the state of the market and hoping to time the bottom to get the best price, and trouble selling their current homes. It's called a self-fulfilling prophesy. Education by the real estate community is the key to stopping this wait-it-out mentality. Look for more local ‘town hall' style meetings and Realtors taking awareness out into their community and online.
There is so much more to talk about when it comes to current and future real estate trends from green building and alternative energy to commercial real estate trends. Check back often for updates on this topic and emerging trends and news.
What's your take on the state of real estate? I'd love to hear your viewpoint about what 2009 holds in store for all of us. Realtors, home owners, first time buyers, title officers, mortgage and banking professionals - what do you see on the horizon for 2009 in your neighborhood/city/industry?
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