Jerry Gardner

Yesterday I had a chance to get out of the office and play some golf. That was good enough but it was made better by the fact that I was on one of the most beautiful courses I've ever seen. Even better, it's right in my own backyard here near Livonia michigan.

I thought I'd take a moment to share.

Michigan Fall Colors

I'll post more at another time.

Have a great weekend!

Here's the list of Foreclosed homes in Livonia Michigan.

There are a total of 62 with an average list price of 89,756.00.

This ammount sis down drastically from last year. With inventory down this much, we cna't help but see prices begin to rise.

This is a great time to get into the Livonia Real estate Market.

Jerry Gardner

Remerica Hometown One

734-216-2376

gardner@hometownone.com

www.remerica.com/jgardner

Oh By the way, I'm never too busy for anyone you refer to me.

The old axiom that "Real Estate is local" has never been more true. I read about all the bad news and the declining markets across the country but that's not what I see here.

I've kept careful stats on inventory for the last few years and they're very telling. If you've read my blog before what I'm about to say will be a repeat. If your new listen up.

Price is not what drives the Real Estate market! Price is a lagging indicator. Price follows inventory, which is a leading indicator of the market. As inventory goes up, buyers have more choices and are not as pressured to make a decision. Sellers have to adjust prices, usually down, in order to generate an offer. If inventory is above, say 6 or 7 months, then we have a definite buyers market. In 2007, the city of Detroit had over 24 months of active inventory to sell.

If there is less inventory, prices go up. For the sake of discussion we'll consider anywhere from 4 to 6 months of inventory a "normal market", whatever that means.

Here's a chart from September of 2008 showing inventory in Detroit and a few surrounding towns.

As you can see, Livonia Michigan had an inventory of 9.63 months. Now look at last month.

Look at Livonia now. 4.45 months of inventory. As expected, we're seeing a slight uptick in prices.

What does this mean to us in Southeast Michigan. If you or someone you know is thinking about buying, it's time. If you're an agent, share this with all your clients. They need to know that things aren't as bad as the media tells them.

Good luck and happy house hunting.

Every month I review statistics for the Detroit and surrounding areas. The trend over the last years has been positive. Inventory levels have remained even or have dropped. What does this mean to the consumer?

If you look at the Real Estate Market's indicators, inventory levels are a leading indicator. They're the first things to point out a market trend or direction. Everyone focuses on prices but prices almost always lag behind inventory.

Here's an Excel sheet I've used to measure market inventory. Rule of thumb is that 4-6 months of inventory is a normal market. If there is more inventory prices drop due to too many choices for a buyer. If there is less inventory, the buyer must make a quicker choice and will much more likely be in a competitive bidding process.

The above table shows that the city of Detroit has a 7 month supply of inventory. This is up almost 1/2 month from Decembers numbers. This could signal another price drop if the trend continues. Plymouth, on the other hand, is down about 1/2 months of inventory form December.

Now, you can't take one month and predict a trend but if you look at 6 months you can get an idea of where the market is going. Some of the factors that could affect the market are unemployment not expecting to get much better soon as well as other general economic trend. Still, it bears keeping the stats in mind if you are an investor looking to purchase.

Last night The Alabama Crimson Tide became the champions of college football. They deserved to win. they played better than Texas so win they did. Living in Michigan I am familiar with Coach Nick Saban, who used to coach Michigan State. I new he was a good coach. he had success here in Michigan, success at LSU and now at Alabama. I also new he preached a certain philosophy: It's not the result, it's the process!

We in Real Estate could use that lesson. So often we focus on our goals but not on the process to achieve those goals. When sales figures don't come in as high as we'd like we cry and wail and moan and do everything but trust what we know will work. Saban trusted what he know would work. In fact, ESPN called him a "grinder". When they lost the SEC title to Florida in '08, Saban took the blame and grinded on, always trusting the process. This is a lesson he teaches to his students/players.

Deepak Chopra says in his Indian brogue,'when you have done everything you can to achieve your goal, you must let go of the outcome. Simply let go."

We learn very early in our careers that we're supposed to care about the clients needs more than our own. Buyers and sellers know when we are desperate. They know if the sale matters more to us than it does to them. It's up to us to learn to trust the process.

It's really very simple. How many calls must you make to get an appointment? How many mailers, e-mail newsletters, follow up with internet leads does it take to get face to face with a client? How many listings do you need for a sale? O.k. get them and let go of the outcome.

I think we can all learn a valuable lesson from Nick Saban and the Alabama win.

Let go of the outcome and believe in the Power of the Process!