Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Finally Time to Buy a House?

As a Realtor, all my friends, family, acquaintances, and pretty much everyone else I meet that knows I'm a Realtor tend to ask me the same question, "Do you think it's a good time to buy a home?"  The answer that I love to give is, "Absolutely, and here's why..."!  Until recently, national media always gave doom and gloom broadcasts on the state of the national real estate market.  The major problem with this is, there is no such thing as a national real estate market.  Real estate sales, values, and trends vary greatly from region to region.  Here in the southwestern region of Indiana, as in much of the rest of the Midwest, our real estate markets were not as adversely affected by the economic downturn as many other places in the United States.

While articles in the past have not given the best outlook for those thinking of buying homes, this trend seems to be changing.  Warren Buffett recently stated in an interview that single family residential homes are a great investment, and that if he had a way to mange them all, he would purchase a couple hundred thousand single family homes to rent out.  While the general public probably doesn't have the capital, or the desire, to make sweeping purchases of this nature, this speaks volumes about how this is a great time to buy real estate as a solid investment.

Prices may continue to fall in 2012 if you look at the overall average of homes in the United States.  The problem with this statistic is that it is heavily weighted by distressed properties.  If you dig deeper into the numbers for our local market, you will see that we are recovering quite nicely!  While people may look at the national numbers and see this as a deterrence from purchasing a home, remember that timing the market for homes is no easier than timing the stock market.  If you're capable of getting a home now, waiting around may not offer much future benefit.

To read more, check out this article: http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?ocid=vt_twmsnre&post=2a5cd9e1-be22-4b17-a7fe-48c4a17e5a89 

Monday, February 20, 2012

Home Builder Confidence Improving

New construction has often been a good indicator of the state of real estate markets. The better the market is doing, the more likely builders are to begin building new homes. The National Association of Home Builders has a formula that they utilize to create an index representing their confidence in the market. For the past five months, their confidence has been increasing, indicating improvements in the housing market.

New construction is not only a measure of, but also a boost to the economy. Through the creation of jobs, as well as the addition of homes on the market available for purchase, new construction is beneficial to everyone. While the housing market is still recovering in many areas, the increase in builder confidence is encouraging! Follow the link for an article with great information!


Builder Confidence Increases for Fifth Consecutive Month in February
http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=15031§ionID=122

Friday, February 10, 2012

Tips to Success

This week I was fortunate to listen to a panel of F.C. Tucker's agents who were able to make impressive increases in their business from 2010 to 2011 discuss their tips for increasing their success. As I sat listening, I gained valuable insight, motivation, and realized that many of their ideas were not only helpful to real estate professionals, but could be put to use in anyone's life in order to help increase their success. Some of these tips might seem basic, but often in life it is the most basic things that we take for granted and simply overlook.

When things get hard, start working harder!
This concept seems simple enough, but even in my own experience when things get tough, it's easy to get discouraged. I take pride in being a hard worker even when things seem difficult, and have often been complimented on this. People will notice when you go above and beyond, and will speak highly of you. If you're working in a position where your job changes based on economic fluctuations, learn to adapt to these changes and keep chugging along.

Focus on your attitude!
Service with a smile, no matter what the situation will make people remember you. Whether the situation is a walk in the park, or a difficult customer, you have control over your attitude. People who are able to face problems head on, and do so with a good attitude, leave a lasting impression that customers love to talk about. Word of mouth advertising is highly effective, and your attitude will greatly affect how people perceive you.

Learn to recognize what you can and can't change!
There are some instances in which you MUST learn to adapt to a situation because there is nothing you can do to change it. By learning to recognize the difference in these situations, you won't waste time and energy trying to change situations that you will ultimately fail at changing.