Mike’s Real Estate Show

I think all the activity we are now experiencing is just indicative of the “spring-market” as this IS when we SHOULD be seeing increased activity. Officially a “recession” is two quarters of negative growth which we’ve yet to see. The recent “uptick” in sales is simply caused by the dumping of REO’s into the marketplace at fire-sale prices. I’m wondering if the families who LOST their homeownership due to bad lending policies will be supplanted by those “qualified” buyers taking advantage of these incredible prices. 
 

We are two counties above San Francisco and when the media  mention “Bay Area” we get lumped into that marketplace. The major media outlets all broadcast into our area and give a Macro look at the real estate market. Last night they had a SF Realtor saying how the upper end is selling like “Hotcakes” (I should invest in a IHOP!). Here in Sonoma County we have a 24 months supply of those “Hotcakes”–ever eaten a cold pancake? Bleeeech!  What I’m getting at is all real estate is local. We as Realtors should not “buy-in” to any NAR announcements (irrational cheerleaders) or even statewide predictions (California’s Leslie Appleton-Young is much more tempered than Mr. Yung!).
  Keep it local, follow the stats, and check the trends. If you’re on a listing appoint with someone who has equity and you’re in a sea of REO’s and Short-Sales THEY need to know this! They are going to get BEAT UP! Do they really have to sell? Your counsel is now why you get paid the big bucks. Bread upon the waters today will equate to additional business years from now.
  The last time we went through a downturn like this we were flat for almost 5 years AFTER the fall and hitting bottom. I have not heard a big SPLAT!! so I don’t know if we’ve gotten to the bottom to start our way back to the top!