Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy

I just got the new report posted to Garage Homes USA, my website. Here is a link to the report.

Aside from the regular Average Days on Market, Average Sales Price, and numbers for new listings, I have added Absorption Rates and New/Sold ratios.

The market report is kind of dry, but it is the information one needs if selling into this market.

There is an interesting phenomenon that I will be posting about in the next couple of days, but here is a sneak peek. The weakest segment of the multi car (3+) garage properties in Gwinnett is the $500k - $650k range. But, the $650 - $1m range is one of the healthier. And, both it and the $1m and up are starting to work through inventory.

Take a look at the report. You might also take a look at my blog for a cool bonus.

I covered this recently, but there was one other thing I neglected to mention...

If you are getting ready to put your home on the market... or you WILL be doing so in the near future, it might not be a bad idea to get a "Pre-Listing Inspection."

Yep. It is the same inspection your buyer would get when your house goes under contract. However, the advantage of getting this done before listing the house is that you will have the opportunity to correct any deficiencies. In addition, you can show the report, and then show that all of the deficiencies have been corrected.

There are a couple of bonuses here.

• There isn't that wondering during the inspection as to whether the inspector will find something.
• Pricing can be more accurate to reflect any known issues.
• Seller's Disclosure will be more complete.
  

Oddly, some listing agents not only don't advise their sellers to do this, but counsel their sellers not to be present during an inspection. They will also choose to not be present during an inspection. There is only one reason for this, and it isn't a good one...

They want to be able to deny anything found during the inspection.

Sorry, but I think that is very short-sighted. With the litigiousness of some people in the world. Showing that you have made a good faith effort to find any deficiencies with your property, and correct them prior to selling tells a judge that you are operating with integrity.

Think about it for a moment. Does sticking one's head in the sand make the problem go away? Would you rather buy from a seller and agent that have taken the extra step of getting an inspection and fixing everything it turned up, or from a seller and agent that doesn't want to hear about anything they don't already know... for plausible deniability?

There is a lot of competition in the market for the buyers to peruse. Going the extra mile and presenting YOUR property as the one that is most attractive, and will be trouble free may be the difference between a sale and an expired listing.

When you are ready to talk to an agent that is ready for the extra mile... call me.

We all know about the stock market crash of 1929. Bubble heads have tried to compare the run up in housing prices to the stock market crash for the last several years. Maybe they have a point... maybe not. This isn't about that. This is about what people DON'T know as often.

When I looked up the crash, one of the very first lines was this... "The market did not return to pre-1929 levels until late 1954,^[3] and was lower at its July 8, 1932 level than it had been since the 1800s." Source...

But, the part that gets glossed over is that in order for that to be true, one would have had to have bought the Dow 30 at its very peak. If one bought at the beginning of 1927, they would have recovered before the eve of World War II (only to get hit again as the world moved to war). They would have recovered again fully by mid 1945. That would be eight and a half years earlier. Eighteen years.

If one had made their buy in 1923, they would have been fully recovered by 1934. So, that means the recovery was inside of 11 years for those folks, rather than the 25 years for the people at the tippy-top of the market.

Keep in mind that the market slid into 1932. It just kept going down. But, if one bought in the beginning of 1931, they would have been fully recovered by 1946. Fifteen years.

What about someone that just got really lucky? If one bought when the market was down, at the end of 1932... 60+% increase in value. Even a buyer at the end of 1931, by 1934 they would have been up by 33% or so.

What does this have to do with real estate?

Part of me wants to say "almost nothing." But, there is a point. Properties are like individual stocks. Local markets are like sectors. And, the best opportunities for huge profit are AFTER THE CRASH. But, before the crash and during the crash aren't that bad. Granted, buying at the top of the bubble sucks. But, the people that didn't buy at the absolute top recovered in a fraction of the time. And the ones that bought before the bottom, but after the bust profited quite handsomely.

There are some serious differences with real estate. To start with, stocks don't make a very good shelter. You can't live in the NYSE or NASDAQ. Next, houses aren't nearly as liquid. So, things move less. The swings aren't as hard or as fast, because the market can't "correct" itself in a few days.

In the case of real estate, while the price correction isn't as fast as a stock correction, it is much less frequent, and the swing won't be as violent. Sure there are people talking about 20% decreases in value... but those are in very limited markets, just like the 95% losses in stocks have always been limited to specific issues. And, seldom is real estate worth nothing. A stock can tank and the company can go away. But, the real estate is pretty much fixed. Not much has truly disappeared without notice...

So, the bottom line is that the best opportunities may be right now. They may have been last month... maybe June. We don't know. What we do know is that the bubble has popped... The bold will profit.

I have another blog. Over there I coined a term.

blogamy

But, yep. I've been keeping another blog and hiding it. The letters on my lapel, the late nights when you hear typing in the other room... Always having to find more ideas. It is from 17 posts a week (some are for members only, and don't show up on a casual search). At least since my New Year's Resolution to give each blog original material.

So, while this one is a little more real estate focused, the other one is a little more fun. I have been posting the anthology posts here to show what is going on over there. But, on the other blog, I haven't really been keeping readers current on the content here. But, today I invited my readers on LaneBailey.com to participate in Looking out from the garage. I hope that more readers find more content that suits their needs.

So, feel free to visit me on LaneBailey.com and see what I am writing about. I'd love comments and feedback. This is the blogging platform that got me started, and I don't intend on abandoning it... but it has to share my attention. Both blogs get plenty of material about the goings on in Gwinnett County and Atlanta, GA area.

Thanks to all.

It's only partway through the event, but I found out today that the Duluth Ice Forum is hosting the ACHA South Regional. This is college hockey.

The teams are vying for a shot at the Nationals next month in Minnesota.

There are four games tomorrow (Saturday, 16 February, 2008). They are at 1:30, 4:10, 6:50 and 9:30.

The teams that will be playing are:

Tennessee

South Florida

Georgia

Old Dominion

Richmond

Alabama

Christopher Newport

Georgia Tech

The ranked teams that have a by for this tournament are:

Central Florida

Florida Gulf Coast

The winner of the 6:50 game, and the winner of the 9:30 game will be seeded for the tournament in Minnesota. These will be seeded as the #3 and #4 team in the South. The currently ranked #1 and #2 teams are already seeded. These are the third through tenth ranked teams.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students with ID, and kids under 12 are free.

My son loved seeing the goalies walking around...