John Marshall Low-Maintenance golf lifestyles

Buy Low- Sell High- How many times have you heard this and wished you had listened? When do the rich get

richer? When everyone else is getting poorer, or in real estate, when the market is at the bottom. When does the majority of the public decide it is a good time to buy or sell? Long after the wave of great opportuniites have come and gone. Let me ask you, are you buying gold right now? Are you seeing all of the commercials and ads for people buying gold and paying top dollar, it may be the ideal time to sell gold, but it is not an ideal time to buy it. When everyone jumps on board you can bet you have missed the boat.

So guess who is buying all the real estate right now, cash buyers! They are buying up all the low end housing they can get their hands on because they know we are at the bottom and starting to climb out. When these savvy buyers are investing cash for investment properties you had better believe it is the best investment going. The wealthy do not make money when everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, that is when they sell! And yet time and time again only 10% will be buying at the bottom and the rest will be scrambling to sell. Wishing they new the "secret" to making money.

Here is a great video reminder from the movie Trading Places one of my all time favorites, enjoy!

If you are waiting for the bottom, YOU MISSED IT! - Real estate is as local as the temperature. When the general public sees reports about the overall industry they need to consult with an experienced agent in their local market just as they would watch the local weather to see what is really happening in their area. If the average temperature in the country is 58 degrees, you had better believe the temperature at your house is completely different.

I typically work with more buyers than sellers and many over the past year have been sitting on the fence trying to time the market. Locally, and I mean very locally, the south metro Denver market prices have started to appreciate again and this has been going on for the past 4-5 months in the under $250K price range. The really nice homes in this market are getting multiple offers and many times more than asking price. As much as I try to educate my buyers on this upward trend it takes some of them writing a couple offers and losing out before it actually sinks in.

The "temperature" is hot for sellers of homes in good condition under $250K, but the temperature is "mild" in the $250-400K range, "lukewarm" in the $400-750K range, downright "cool" in the $750-1M price points, so you can see that even though the market is local, it is also distinct to price ranges.

The "Perfect Storm" is actually available right now. What is a "Perfect Storm" in real estate, for this post a "Perfect Storm" represents a Sellers market for a seller and also a buyers market for a buyer! John! How can this be??? Well Mr. and Mrs. Seller/Buyer, if you have a home that is valued under $250K and in great condition in a good location you should feel that a good agent can get you a very strong offer fairly quickly, at the same time if you are also in a position to buy in the market you should be able to get a considerable discount on the next home you buy.

Once again this is all very local and can fluctuate from neighborhood to neighborhood. So talk with a knowledgeable agent that not only knows your market locally, but the market you desire. Just yesterday I spoke with a long time agent who said she was helped a client sell their home in the $250K range at just under full price and they were able to buy a home that was listed at $550K for just under $450K and with the current rates at all time lows they also got an incredibly affordable monthly payment

A survey to those that Know me, Like me, trust me, but did/no not use me! - Over the years I have been very fortunate to create a business that allows me to spend time with my family, help others through the emotional process of buying and selling a home and meet many new friends. I have always asked after the process when working with clients, how I may have improved my services, how were the vendors that I referred to you (this is a critical question to ask your clients, because this is the number one biggest reflection on you). Now in the never ending journey to create the best possible real estate company for my clients, past present and future, I need to know how to improve and I need to know directly from the horses mouth.

Over those same years I have also seen several friends, neighbors and even family members buy or sell with another agent. I learned that having a thick skin is a requirement in this industry and I have some very good friends that have referred many new clients to me, but have also said they would never use a friend for a business transaction and I respect that.

That brings me to the survey - I understand that you either bought or sold a home, or both and you had the choice of several agents to use, I was not selected and to improve my services please answer a few wuestions to help me understand (please keep in mind that all of these are reasons I have heard so you will not offend me, your cooperation is very much appreciated) Check all that apply:

You do not like me!

You like me too much to do that to me!

You have another friend or family member in real estate.

My fees are too high!

My fees are too low!

You never mix business with friends or family!

You did not know I was was still in real estate!

You did not know I was ever in real estate!

I am not the area expert!

I thought you only worked in ___________ areas.

I have some many friends in the business I had a lottery and you did not win.

You are not good looking enough! (ouch)

You are too good looking! ( I haven't actually ever heard this one)

I do not trust friends with my personal financial issues.

I was too embarrassed about my current situation to call you!

I was recommended to another agent.

You are not with a big enough "name".

I do not care for the company you work with.

You have recommended vendors over the years that did not work out, so I assume you will be the same.

Other _______________________________________________

I would really like to know these answers, and would appreciate any brutally honest feedback. Agents feel free to chime in and forward this to clients you have missed out on, I really believe that many agents always feel that there way is best, but we do work in a vacuum that does not necessarily ask the end user what they think, we just assume we know what they think.

A Picture is worth a thousand words or You only have one shot at making a first impression! - I see this over and over and over again and I still do not understand it, everyone knows that you only get one shot at making that first impression, and yet agents continue to list a home, go on and on describing in great detail how fabulous the home is and yet they do not upload any photos when they activate the listing. Apparently they are not really working in their clients best interest.

I primarily work with buyers and I see this every single day. Let's walk through the eyes of a buyer that is getting homes emailed to them every day, especially when they first come on the market. The first thing they do is look at the picture, guess what? If there is no picture they just go on to the next home and never know how fabulous your home might be.

Now although I do primarily work with buyers I will list homes as well, especially if these are buyers that need to sell their home first. I love to use these photos, or lack of, as ammunition when I have a listing appointment, I have no problem showing "examples" of the listings by the other agents that do not use photos. ^^^Is this what your house looks like^^^ If these are also buyers they truly understand how critical it is to get the first impression out to the world.

I have buyers right now that tell me they skip right over listings I send them that do not have any photos.

Sellers do yourself a HUGE favor and ask to see the listing agents past listing photos. You know when searching for homes the more the merrier, so why on earth would you hire and agent that can't even upload a photo when they make the listing live, or worse yet they do not even take any photographs.

PS This is not a rookie mistake, I see this over and over again with long time agents and I am still amazed they are in business. Very unprofessional.

The 4 and 1/2 Holidays that effect real estate - As we all know every day can be a productive day in real estate, you can show houses every day of the week, list homes every day of the week. Work 24/7 at your office on all sorts of different time consuming projects, but. There are 4.5 holidays every year that bring most of the industry to a screeching halt.

The first three are very well known and should be a time for everyone to take a break regardless of where you are in your business, they are Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The other 1.5 Holidays are not official holidays but they do make a major impact on activity, ironically both are happening this weekend in Denver.

The Super Bowl has become as big a non-functioning real estate day as the other three mentioned above, I rarely have had the opportunity to show houses on super Sunday, but even when I have had the opportunity I have been turned down or refused to be let in by sellers on this "Holy Day".

The other 1/2 Holiday is more of a function of the weather and can actually effect real estate several times through out the year. Today in Denver and along the front range we are getting a major snow storm, all schools are canceled, many businesses have closed and many cities have also closed for the day. Air travel is very limited if at all and there is no way a seller wants to step out of their house for two hours today when the buyer that scheduled the showing yesterday more than likely will n ot be able to keep their appointment anyway.

Real estate is funny, when we have severe weather changes whether it is a heat wave, a monsoon rain, or major snowstorm we seem to get a lull in activity, however once the weather has remained constant for a couple days, unless its just impossible to get out and about, things get a little bit back to normal.

Enjoy the Holiday weekend.