This is the first post to my blog ... I guess I'm entering a new phase (or maybe it's a mid life thing).
Anyway ... last year was my 16th in real estate, and I feel like the market (business) evolved again and this time I didn't see it coming.
The first big shift was after the slowdown in the early 90's. I had been plugging along as a new agent, searching for (and finding) enough niche business to stay afloat when WHAM-OO .. the market shifted and I was left holding a bunch of inventory nobody wanted.
It almost put me under ... but after a very lean year I found the groove again and promised myself I would be more careful in the future.
That awarness of change got me out ahead of Buyer Agency, in fact I was a founding member of the Certified Buyer Agency Association of Ontario. A group of likeminded realtors who banded together and brought instructors from south of the boarder to show us how to practice buyer agency. I was the only trained buyer agent between Toronto and Kingston and it really helped me build a strong business.
The next major change in the industry was the internet. And there too I got out early and hard. Building a real estate web network approaching 200 sites ... which lead to a hosting company on the side and many hours infront of a screen.
But the result is I now have the strongest internet platform serving the lakeshore area (between Oshawa and Belleville Ontario) with multiple sites retuning above the fold on page one of every search engine for every common real estate search term.
This formula brought me about 4 years of very easy business. Just check the e-mails and show homes. I had it all figured out.
Until the sub prime stuff hit the fan .. and even though here in Canada home owners don't traditionally borrow the same way they do in the states, it seems our Canadian banks are as greedy as all the rest .. just not as smart. They're the ones that bought all that bad paper.
The crunch they've experienced writing off bad debt has caused them to be much more careful on the lending side. Even good credit has trouble getting a loan.
The impact on me has been dramatic .... 2007 was the worst year I've had in a decade. I've had to shift gears again.
I think I'm on the right track, the numbers are starting to come back, and I'm very optimistic about 2008.
Part of my plan is to do this ... maybe someone will read it. I hope to share current market trends and data.
Keep and eye out ... it may be useful.
Cheers to all .............. Dave
Note: I couldn't get the spell check to wark .. sorry
