REALTOR RUMINATIONS

 Many of today’s homeowners have never been in a declining real estate market.  They believe that housing markets always go up and that no one ever loses money in real estate.  They have assumed an appreciating market in many of their financial decisions from the kind of ARM they have chosen to a decision to refinance and take cash equity out of their homes. What we all are seeing now is that the real estate market is like any other commodity market in that it appreciates and depreciates over time ; however, with an ever increasing vector.So, how to sell homes in a declining market?  The first thing to understand is that if your home is not correctly positioned in the market then no matter how many advertisements, open houses, mailings, and home warranties your agent provides there will be no buyer excitement and your home will not sell. Advertising is great for agent branding and for identifying future buyers but since your home is not a product it will not sell your home.  Buyers determine the price of homes and savvy buyers and their agents watch neighborhoods in which they are interested waiting for their energy priced home to appear on the market. 

Your real estate marketing consultant must:

· Frankly discuss how to sell your home in a declining market not just ask you at what price you want to list.

· Know and be able to show you whether you are in an depreciating or appreciating market, and be able to discuss the implications.

· Be able to tell you what home prices (not average prices) have done in the last several years in your neighborhood.· Be prepared to tell you where to position your home to generate an energy price and what that means.

· Be able to measure and know whether or not your home is property positioned and make recommendations on what to do.

If your home has had fifteen showings statistically the buyer for your home has already seen it.  The reason that you have not gotten an offer is where your home is positioned in the market and the lack of an energy price.  Now more than ever you must know how your agent plans to sell your home.