Randy Harden

Things have really changed around my office in the past 60 days. Sales are brisk and it seems that we are making multiple offers just about every day. A lot of buyers are coming out of the woodwork to start buying while the prices are so low. It is sort of a no-brainer when you can buy a 1600 sqft 3 bed 2 bath condo for $105,000! We have selling villas for $220,000 & $250,000 and I just sold a completely remodeled 2 bed 2 bath highrise condo for $132,500.

I am proud to announce that we also have two new top-producers to our office, David Koenig and Alexia Garcia. Both with long histories of sales in South Florida. They both joined on a little over a week ago and have already written several sales contracts. They really hit the ground running and I think they are going to really grow their business here.

Aside from that my new property management administrator, Stacie, is working out well. I have her revamping our whole property management system to an online program that helps manage our 200+ rentals more efficiently. We are also going to start accepting electronic payments soon, so our tenants can pay their rent online via their credit/debit cards and e-checks.

Other than that things are peachy keen. My wife and I are planning a weekend cruise to celebrate one of our best friend's birthdays next month and we have a trip lined up the following week to visit family in New York and Boston/Conneticut. We think we are going away to Canada for our 1 year wedding anniversary, but we might go to Ireland instead. It is becoming a fantastic time to travel right now because the prices just keep dropping. You can do a week in Ireland with airfare and hotels for less than $1000 per person.

At this point I just hope that sales continue to remain constant and that everyones health remains good. Best wishes for a positive 2009.

I knew it on December 26th and every day since then has been proof that 2009 is the year that Real Estate gets some momentum. My website viewers jumped 60% from 100 people per day to 160. That's 4900 people in January. Our phones haven't stopped ringing and people are walking in every day in search of property.

"A GOOD DEAL!" is what's on everyone's mind. And I can tell you from experience that they are out there and ripe for the picking. I wrote 3 offers on Saturday, all on foreclosure that were double or triple the prices a few years ago.

If you are waiting for the bottom, STOP WAITING! I have buyers buying the best buys out there and that is the first sign of the turn. In 1-3 months the media will start reporting that sales are up and that will in turn cause more people to buy because they will have realized that the bottom is the January/February/March of 2009.

Hey, I could be mistaken and this could drag out longer like some people say. But I can honestly tell you that in my market aka Greater Fort Lauderdale aka Pompano Beach aka Palm-Aire people are buying properties.

It is now cheaper to buy than it is to build or rent, think about that.

I can happily say that I now dominate google searches for my farm area, Palm Aire Country Club. It is a good feeling to see my domain in the top 5 naturally (i.e. no pay per click). I have spent over a year positioning my website to become the best source of local information. I have received a lot of positive feedback and even when I thought it was complete I kept tweaking it for functionality.

Anyway, I have been in the office since around 6:30am after working about 30 hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Two reasons for this:

First, the buyers have come out of the woodwork. Stop anyone midsentence if they tell you otherwise. I am telling you straight up I am getting over atleast a half dozen genuine leads a day of real people looking to buy right now. I had 5 customers this weekend.

Second, I am leaving for Asheville, North Carolina in less than 12 hours. Another couple plus my wife and I are driving up to Valdosta, GA and then onto Asheville the following day for a 3 day stay in cabin in the woods. My wife's bestfriend from DC is meeting us there as well with her boyfriend. Afterwards we are driving back via Charleston, SC to visit my newest nephew and my brother-in-law's family. I will be up north in the "South" for the remainder of the week and I couldn't have chosen a worse time to go.

All my marketing is taking off and I literally have another dozen leads sitting next to me that I have to give out to the other agents in my office because everyone wants to go see property this week.

I worked with a deaf woman yesterday on Fort Lauderdale beach showing condos. She was my second deaf client in 9 years. My sign language is becoming too rusty, so I find it beneficial to have relearn some signs. In case you were not aware, both of my parents are deaf. I, however, am not.

I still have a laundry list of things to get done by 2pm today, so I will end this by wishing all who might read this a very happy new year.

Best wishes,

Randy Harden

You know you must be doing something right when the Property Appraiser's office calls you personally for insight. It is nice to be regonized as an authority on the properties that I handle in Palm-Aire. Actually they called me twice in the past week, first for my knowledge of the villas on the Cypress Golf Course and then for the townhouses on N Palm Aire Drive.

It's a pleasure to help them because you never know when knowing someone on the inside can get something accomplished that may prove difficult. I met Lori Parrish earlier this year and she was a very down-to-earth person who has a good sense of humor, which is probably pretty important when working in a government run agency.

Things are picking up. This week we closed on two properties: a new construction condo in Royal Point and a 3/2.5 condo on Cypress Grove Lane that we sold in 7 days! We also got a 2 or 3 new listings for some nice properties.

My new assistant, Isabel, is working out well. We are developing a new mailing campaign as well as online newsletters. I find the hardest thing about growing your business in several different directions simultaneously is having so much to do that I don't know what to do next. Having an assistant is important for me to stay on track. Plus I never have to get up from my desk anymore to scan or fax a document or pull a file.

It's time for me to get back to work. I have to go to Office Depot to have 50 promo rental packages bound for my incoming seasonal tenants. If you are spending 5-10 thousand dollars each year to spend 3-4 months in this beautiful climate and you plan to keep coming down for the foreseeable future, then you'd be crazy not to buy right now. I cannot think of a better time to make a long term investment.

My office has closed nearly a million dollars in real estate this week and it feels so good!

Believe it or not, but people are in fact buying property right now. The bleak financial news helps buyers who have the means to buy property get more off the asking price. Sellers are now convinced that the sky is falling and banks are doing whatever it takes to stop the bleeding of the falling equity.

Today I closed on a foreclosure right off of Las Olas Boulevard, the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale. Originally sold for $1,100,000 the first owner defaulted on his failed investment and the bank was forced to take it back and resell it. I happened to sell it to a software engineer for $485,000 and then we renegotiated after the fact for $30,000 less than originally agreed upon!

I am not taking about a disgusting moldy old run down property either. I mean a top of the line, state of the art, huge waterfront (deep water!) condo in an exclusive building moments from the best beach in South Florida. This property has impact glass on every windown, granite countertops in the kitchen and three bathrooms, and one of the nicest kitchens I have ever seen in a condominum.

Contrary to what the media is reporting, this buyer got a mortgage without any problems in less than two weeks. And I don't mean a 8% Adjustable Rate either, he received a 5.75% 30 year mortgage with a minimum amount of closing costs and fees from Wachovia (you know, the one that went under last month)

I will say it one more time, believe it or not but people are in fact buying property right now.

Now if I can only figure out how to get them all to buy from me...