Dale Terry

This picture was taken right outside the Yadkinville city limits.

With 15+ years in the business, licensed with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and the North Carolina General Contracting Board. Certified Mortgage Consultant, E-Pro. We provide the most comprehensive service set in the industry. We can help with selling your current property, finding the new one, or build your dream home. You save with each service you use, it reduces stress in a very stressful situation and our satisfaction guarantee is second to none.

Link to my sites!

Yadkin County Real Estate, North Carolina Real Estate

Home Realty Group

For New Construction and Remodels

White Oak Custom Homes

News, Events, Classifieds and more

Yadkin Valley Now!

Yadkin Valley Attractions Series

Y

It is getting time to get those rods and reels out. Make sure your license is up to date!

It's getting to be that time where the fresh home grown tomato is a daily item!

Many in the real estate world believe that in time we will see the past revisit us. I don't believe so. I think that we are in the midst of a fundamental change in the industry and how we are paid going forward will not be the same as it has always been.

First off, a brief framework of commissions and untimately our income. At an average selling price of $150,000, a 3% commission (assuming one side only) comes to $4500. After the split with your broker, assuming a 80-20 split, you net $3600. If you sell one house a month, that is $42,200 a year income. After paying expenses of say $5000, you are now down to 37,200. Now pay income and self employment taxes and your pay is reduced to about $30k.

But in this scenerio, there are some basic assumptions. First is that your average selling price is $150,000, that you only get one side, that you get a 3% commission on all sales, and your split is 80-20. You get the drift. What if you don't sale a home each month? You probably would think that spending more on promotion would change the numbers- that is what you will hear from others. It may or may not be successful, but it will increase your expenses.

So can we depend upon old models of commission going forward. I think not. In our MLS there are currently many properties with less than 3% commission to the selling agent. That does not support the example above. Nor is there any indication that the current market will change dramatically over the next few years. I know, that is against the grain of what most want to believe. But with millions of baby boomers getting to retirement age, we may see a staggering number of homes hit the market. With government pushing affordable housing, and large homes in the suburbs not qualifying, we should see pressure on these very same boomers to reduce commissions to us. Technology will have a part to play in this saga as well. Contrary to what the large franchises are promoting, I see a reduction in service as sellers take on more of the marketing of their homes. And buyers will have more opportunities to receive part of their agents commissions-if they have an agent at all.

The only good thing I see out of this downturn is that the push for banks to be involved in real estate has been put on hold. Most are concerned with getting out of real estate for the moment.

Pay for service is coming. Each of us will devise what amounts to be a buffett service menu. Since we still don't control our MLS- that is our product, and we are collectively giving it away to sites like Trulia, it is we that must change or go by the way of the dinosaur

Our government has poured billions into the ailing auto industry and it looks like it has been for naught. The new CEO of GM announced today that bankruptcy may be the best option for the company after seeing a continued decline in sales.

My problem with this is very simple. The auto industry has overproduced cars for many years. It lost all pricing leverage years ago. To sell a car, it literally had to give it away based on special financing. Now that has created a car company that is really a financing company where the potential profits go back to the unions with their ridiculous contracts. There is only one other place in the world that has the type of benefits and pay that the unions have and that is congress. It is my belief that the unions, with support of congressional pressure, along with a company management team that has no spine, has gotten us to this point.

And in doing so, the taxpayer has been obligated to billions that most of us would not have remotely thought about paying out to the automakers if the end result is bankruptcy. So my question is who benefits? Did certain shareholders of GM get the much needed time to sell their stock? I am talking about our congress! Did other parties benefit by negotiating sweet heart deals to go along with this type of restructure?

More details will emerge, but for sure, the administration and the media will not report the fact that we are already in debt enough and expose the idiocy of giving the companies more money.